The US president said that although the pilot had been rescued, Washington “inevitably must respond to this attack.”
President Donald Trump has accused Iran of shooting down a US military helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz and said he would respond to the attack.
“Last night, we were informed by our great military that Iranian forces shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache helicopters while patrolling the Strait of Hormuz,” President Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday.
“There were two pilots involved, both of whom were safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must inevitably respond to this attack.”
President Trump’s latest threats risk tearing up the April 8 ceasefire agreement that suspended the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran, which is already being pushed to the brink by repeated skirmishes in the region.
The Middle East-based Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. military operations in the region, said earlier that the cause of the incident was under investigation.
“The soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition,” Centcom said in a statement.
The escalation comes after the US military announced on Monday that it had disabled an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf.
In recent days, fighting has also broken out between Iran and Israel. Iran fired missiles at Israel in response to the Beirut bombing. Meanwhile, despite President Trump’s calls for restraint, Israel carried out attacks inside Iran.
Since the ceasefire came into effect, tensions have increased in the region with repeated attacks and counterattacks.
Earlier this month, U.S. forces attacked Iran’s Qeshm Island, and Tehran retaliated by firing missiles at U.S. military bases in Kuwait. A drone also crashed into Kuwait’s international airport, killing one person, but Iran denies responsibility for the attack.
President Trump downplayed these past acts of violence and stressed that despite the tensions, an agreement between the US and Iranian governments remained close.
A direct attack on U.S. forces by Iran appears to be another step up the escalating ladder. Iranian military has not taken responsibility for shooting down the helicopter.
Officials in Tehran have repeatedly asserted that the U.S. naval siege of Iranian ports and ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon constitute a violation of the April 8 ceasefire.
On Monday, minutes before President Trump made his case about the helicopters, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and chief negotiator, suggested the country was not afraid of returning to war.
“We prefer diplomatic languages, but we speak other languages much more fluently. Break your promise and we will switch to the language we are best at,” Ghalibaf wrote to X.
“You ride your own saddled horse!”
Sheena Azodi, director of Georgetown University’s Middle East Studies Program, said Iran is aware that the war is unpopular in the United States, especially as it prepares to co-host the FIFA World Cup, which begins Friday.
As such, Azodi said, Iran is trying to pressure President Trump to reach a deal that comprehensively ends the conflict.
“The Iranian side is trying to make it clear that they have no intention of withdrawing. I think they are willing to escalate with the American side and are putting as much pressure on the American side as possible to get an agreement,” he told Al Jazeera.
