Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has said that foreign forces in the area are at risk of being involved in accidents or violent clashes.
The United States on Tuesday, June 9, launched attacks against Iran after President Donald Trump said that Tehran had shot down an American Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz, raising doubts about the prospect of peace between the two countries.
“They shot down a helicopter, and we’re responding as we speak,” Trump told ABC News. “I believe the response should be very strong, very strong, and that is what this is.”
Iranian state media reported that Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz was attacked and that a missile was confirmed in Sirik. Explosions were heard in eastern areas of Hormozgan, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.
Trump previously said the two American pilots involved in the incident were not injured.
The Apache was shot down by an Iranian drone, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi did not directly comment on the helicopter incident, but said that foreign forces in the area are at risk of being involved in an accident or shooting each other.
“To reduce the risk, the best solution is for them to leave,” he said on the social network.
Iranian state media later quoted a military source as saying that no military airstrikes had been carried out in the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours.
The source was also quoted as saying that there would be a definite response in the event of “renewed enemy hostilities” following the helicopter incident.
Trump told The Wall Street Journal during a call on Tuesday that the incident was “no big deal” and insisted that “the pilot is fine.”
However, the period could add more stress to efforts to broker a peace deal to end the Middle East war and reopen Hormuz, a key route for oil and other goods.
Trump has repeatedly said Iran and the United States are close to a deal, although there have been few signs of progress since the ceasefire was implemented in early April.
A US Navy drone found and rescued the two crew members, the US military said, after a US Navy helicopter crashed into waters off the coast of Oman while on patrol at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday (2300 GMT on Monday).
The U.S. military’s high command did not release the cause of the crash. It said the soldiers were rescued after two hours and were in stable condition – a more cautious assessment than Trump’s explanation.
Israel attacks the Lebanese port city of Tyre
In a related conflict, Israel attacked the historic port city of Tire in southern Lebanon, killing at least eight people. It was the deadliest attack on the city since fighting broke out in Lebanon in early March, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel.
Video verified by Reuters showed debris strewn on the road in the area of the attack.
Israel’s refusal to end its campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah has blocked Trump’s efforts to extend the long-running ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran into a permanent solution.
Iran and Israel carried out airstrikes earlier this week, killing two people in Tehran.
Trump told Axios on Monday that he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to go back to war with Iran: “I said, ‘Lady, you better be careful, or you’ll be on your own soon.’
Tehran has long said any peace deal with Washington depends in part on an end to fighting in Lebanon.
In northern Israel on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers operating in the Ramim Ridge area near the Lebanese border killed one person in an incident in which they opened fire, the army said.
Israel has never stopped its campaign in Lebanon, which has killed thousands of people, saying the conflict should be handled separately from any ceasefire between the US and Iran. Hezbollah has also continued its attacks.
Meanwhile, Tehran has continued to block most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war contained a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Washington has imposed its blockade of Iranian ports.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday that shipping traffic through Hormuz is increasing “very significantly,” but added that it will take many months to return to normal energy flows once the war ends.
Trump has said that any peace agreement must ensure that Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s demands include the lifting of international sanctions, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets, and recognition of its control of the strait. – Rappler.com
