By Enyichukwu Enemanna
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday blamed Iran for shooting down an Apache helicopter belonging to his country, which was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz overnight, threatening that Washington will respond but did not give further details.
“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
He said the two U.S. pilots involved in the incident were both safe and unhurt.
“Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” he added.
His remarks further casts aspersion on the certainty of a ceasefire truce announced on April 8 in the war in the Gulf.
On Monday, Israel and Iran said they would halt attacks on each other after an appeal by Trump to end their first direct exchanges of fire which started since April 28.
Iran however warned it would resume hostilities if Israel continues to launch attacks on its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The unyielding tones on Monday further jeopardises efforts to broker a peace deal to end the wider Middle East war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz which has been shut down by Tehran.
In remarks earlier on Tuesday about the downing of the Apache helicopter, Trump had said the two U.S. helicopter crew members were “fine” following their rescue by a U.S. Navy drone, but he had made no comment about what brought the Apache down.
A U.S. Navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew, the U.S. military told Reuters.
The U.S. Central Command said the AH-64 Apache went down at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday (2300 GMT on Monday).
In Tehran, two Iranian air defence personnel were due to be buried on Tuesday after being killed in Israeli strikes the day before, Iran’s military said. No deaths were reported in Israel after the Iranian strikes.
