US, Iran exchange retaliatory strikes

The US leader earlier claimed he was unwilling to allow any action that could jeopardise a potential peace deal.

The US and Iran exchanged retaliatory strikes on Tuesday night after the downing of an American Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, further escalating the tension in the Middle East.

US strikes targeted the “Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites” near the Strait of Hormuz, in response to an Iranian attack that brought down the US helicopter, which President Donald Trump considered unacceptable.

“The United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” Mr Trump told ABC News.

“This is a response to what they did with our helicopter last night, and I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” he said.

He also said, “I believe in responding in a strong manner. I always have throughout my life. We have a deal that was very good, and probably will be. But this is a response to what they did with our helicopter last night, and I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is.”

The US Central Command, in a post on X, said the “mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

Iran, in “retaliation”, fired missiles and drones at US bases in the Middle East. The strikes targeted the US Fifth ⁠Fleet in Bahrain and an airbase in Jordan.

The Iranian military claimed that its missiles hit and destroyed four critical targets at the base, including F-35 fighter jet hangars and a primary command and control centre, according to Al Jazeera. It also framed the missile strike as the completion of a broader retaliatory operation. A core part of this operation, it said, included the downing of a US MQ-9 drone over Iranian airspace.

The strikes occurred during the ceasefire both sides agreed to following a war that started on 28 February when the US and Israel attacked Iran.

A peace agreement between the US and Iran, which Mr Trump earlier claimed would be completed in a few days, now hangs in the balance. The US leader earlier claimed he was unwilling to allow any action that could jeopardise the deal, yet the US military response poses a bigger threat of intensifying the war.

Iran and Israel traded strikes on Monday for hours before deciding to end the violence, with reports attributing the decision to Mr Trump’s intervention. But the IRGC accused the US and Israel of failing to meet their commitments and of violating the “ceasefire by repeatedly attacking Iranian shores and vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean.”

On Wednesday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, said the US had chosen to test Tehran’s determination “despite its defeat on the battlefield” and that its armed forces would “leave no attack or threat unanswered.”

“Leave our region if you want to be safe. History of the Persian Gulf has many chapters on the dire fates of intruding outsiders,” he said.