US strikes new targets in Iran
War intensifies after American copter crashes
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. has completed new airstrikes on Iran after the crash of an American helicopter off Oman that it blames on Tehran.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement it had “struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions.” It described U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets being involved in the attacks Tuesday.
Iran has acknowledged strikes around Bandar Abbas and elsewhere, but offered no details on damage.
The strikes were “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” U.S. Central Command said on social media. Iranian state media reported that explosions were heard on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane that Iran has effectively closed during the war, before saying the wave of American attacks in the south had “subsided.”
Trump said earlier in a social media post that Iran had shot down the aircraft while it was on patrol over the strait and declared that the U.S. “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.” Iran’s top diplomat said foreign military forces near its territory “are at constant risk” and later vowed that there would be a response to the new U.S. strikes.
Iranian forces “will leave no attack or threat unanswered,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the social platform X. “Leave our region if you want to be safe.”
The downing of the helicopter and the strikes by the U.S. military further strained a two-month ceasefire a day after Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time since the fragile truce took effect. Iranian state television said Tuesday that the Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country’s air-defense units.
Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive.
Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.


