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A United States military investigation found that an Iranian drone struck the American AH-64 Apache attack helicopter that crashed near the Strait of Hormuz on June 8, Axios reported, citing a senior American official.
The official told the news website the investigation had not yet determined whether the strike was intentional and that the matter remained under review.
However, another American official who spoke with Al-Arabiya said that there were indications that Iran deliberately targeted the helicopter.
The incident came following serious escalation over the weekend, with Iran and Israel exchanging their first direct strikes since the start of the ceasefire.
Both crew members were rescued around two hours after the helicopter went down off the coast of Oman, the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X. Later reports revealed that the pilot and weapon systems officer were rescued by a drone of the U.S. Navy.
Apaches have previously been used to attack Iranian small boats in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as to intercept drones launched from the Islamic Republic over the waterway and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf. A fully loaded “flyaway” helicopter of this type could cost well over $50 million.
U.S. President Donald Trump has already held Iran responsible, saying in a post to Truth Social that the Islamic Republic “shot down” the helicopter.
“the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” he added, without elaborating on what a response might look like.
An Iranian official who spoke to Al-Jazzer has pushed back against the claims made by the U.S. military, saying that the helicopter was not flying over international waters.
More importantly, the official warned that the Islamic Republic would respond forcefully and immediately to any American attack.
Another warning came directly from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said that Iran prefers diplomacy but signaled that it is prepared to respond militarily.
“Iran prefers the language of diplomacy,” Araghchi posted on X. “However, as our Brave Warriors have shown to the world, we know how to speak other languages too.”
The U.S. could launch strikes against Iran within hours, but it is highly unlikely that the attack will be extensive. Still, the Islamic Republic will certainly respond, which could further complicate the situation. And with diplomatic efforts stuck, the war is just one miscalculation away from resuming.
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iran sure knows how to make a fool out the us right now. sure, the us has dominance in firepower and rules the skies and the seas, but iran really puts up a good fight.
are you sure they rule the skies and the seas? the evidence sure does not prove this.
not what i meant. i’m saying that in terms of sheer power and equipment they got the upper hand.
i’m all for iran kicking their ass
then why did that american helicopter get shot down, if they’re so good?
i never said they were good. i’m supporting iran here, i’m just referring to absolute firepower.
exactly what were yanky bast’ds doing patrolling the coast of oman??
we’re not getting any real information. the possibility that a drone took down the helicopter is so minimal that it cannot be believed.
not true. it’s happened before. not in this theater of operations, but in ukraine.
those are interceptor drones designed for that. a shahed is not.
there are interceptor drones that seek out targets based on rotor noise. the helicopters are used to attack iranian patrol boats, and have done so on numerous occasions, so it is natural for the iranians to attack the helicopters.
as tump would say, it was a defensive action.
a shahed is not an interceptor drone. the u.s. claims it was a shahed. likely they were tasked to take it out and got hit. if it were an interceptor drone, the pilots would likely be dead. plus, how would they survive if a shahed drones warhead went off? they wouldn’t. so, some part of this is an obvious lie.
not long ago we saw a qatari heli trying to ram a drone
we also saw an f-15 trying to do so
shaheds can be wired to explode when rammed via gyro-accelerometer combo
well the people loved it when a ukrainien drone shot down a russian helicopter why not cheer in this case as well.
no cheering from this lot. only the tears of the hypocrites that they are.
excellent news! swatting those pesky us choppers from the sky like bugs. 🤗🥳🥳🥳
i hope it had a picture of netanyahu and trump painted on the drone so the us soldiers can know who’s getting them killed. for nothing
dump will destroy iran and rob his own people until the americans themselves put him in prison. enrichment during office is prohibited. intentional manipulation of the stock market is prohibited, fraud by issuing cryptocurrencies is prohibited, insider trading is prohibited. i do not believe that democratic judges will recognize presidential immunity.
ev erythi ng is happening because of p uss ia’s b etra yal of sy ri a, and that’s why i hope for the dis memberm ent of ru ss ia. the iran ian s have no i de a. if they had an y s ens e, they wo ul d p ay the ukra in ia n s to kill the main c ulp rits for des tro yin g iran in mos cow. the ma in cu lprit s are l a vr ov, pu t in, al a ss ad, al ha ssa n and si mila r m afi a s who took m o ne y from mb s and bet ray ed sy r ia. if the ira ni ans had any se ns e,
the se people would all be dead by now and not enj oyi ng the ill-go tte n sau di m on ey in mos co w. so the main crooks in this world, putler, netanyahu and dump, can do harm to inno cen t peo ple without any hi nd rance.
no o ne obje cted when they kille d pri goz hin, nasr allah and soleimani. so i hope that isis will come and will at least secede dag est an and che chn ya from ru ssia.that shamil basayev will emerge again and thin gs will be com e truly ter rible in the kr e mlin.
the americans are to blame for everything. they attacked iran for no justifiable reason while forcing iran to supposedly ‘negotiate’ about matters that are none of america’s business what so ever. there is nothing to ‘negotiate’ about, the americans need to leave, cross the ocean, and go home.
axios is cia/mossad op. i didn’t know shahed drones had optical guidance or radar homing attack capabilities. maybe a shahed took it out while the chopper was trying to take it out. uae lost a chopper trying the same thing. but it’s iran’s fault. if it was a mid-air collision, as ‘they’ say it was, it’s miracle no one died, being that you can’t jump out of a chopper. isn’t it also a miracle that the drone didn’t explode it’s war head in it’s ‘attack’? all these miracles. wow.
the us is fighting like it was still world war 2.