Washington/Tehran: US forces struck Iranian radar installations and other military infrastructure in southern Hormozgan province late on Tuesday in retaliation for the downing of a US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said, as Tehran warned it would not leave an attack unanswered, agencies reported.
The strikes, which Centcom said began at 5 p.m. Eastern Time and were carried out “at the Commander in Chief’s direction,” were described by US officials as a proportional self-defense response to what President Donald Trump called the shooting down of “one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters” while it patrolled the strategic waterway.
US officials told Reuters and CBS News that radar sites were among the targets. Iranian state media Mehr and Fars reported explosions in a number of locations across Hormozgan, including Kouhestak, Sirik, Minab and the port city of Bandar Abbas, though they said the exact impact points had not yet been independently verified. Mehr also reported blast noises near Jask and along coastal areas of southern Iran.
Iranian outlets said some infrastructure was struck but reported that commercial port facilities on Qeshm Island were not hit. State media further reported that two water storage tanks in Sirik were damaged, cutting local drinking water supplies.
The conflict began after a one-way Iranian attack drone struck a US Army AH-64 Apache at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday while the helicopter was on patrol over the Strait of Hormuz, US officials told Reuters. Two crew members were later rescued by an unmanned sea drone in what the military characterized as an unprecedented recovery operation; both were reported in stable condition.
Helicopter Not Deliberately Targeted
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, told Al Jazeera that the helicopter was not deliberately targeted.
Following the US action, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi criticized the American military presence in the region, saying the Strait of Hormuz lies “thousands of miles away from US shores” and suggesting that foreign forces operating near Iran risk accidental confrontations.
In a post on X Araghchi warned that Iran’s armed forces would not let any attack or threat go unanswered and urged foreign forces to withdraw from the region if they wanted to remain safe.
Diplomatic Channels For Peace Deal Remain Open
The White House said diplomatic channels were still open even as military operations continued. A senior White House official told Politico that President Trump still believes a peace agreement with Iran remains within reach and that the latest strikes did not change the status of those talks.
