US launches strikes on Iran after Apache crash near Oman

The U.S. military began strikes on Iran on Tuesday after a U.S. Army Apache helicopter went down off the coast of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, escalating an already volatile regional war. President Donald Trump blamed Iran for bringing down the aircraft and said the United States had to respond. U.S. Central Command described the operation as a proportional response. The two aviators aboard the helicopter were rescued safe and uninjured by an unmanned drone boat in what the report described as a first for the American military. Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, did not accept responsibility and warned that foreign forces operating near Iranian territory face constant risk. The incident further strained a two-month ceasefire after Iran and Israel exchanged fire a day earlier.