Trump vows US response, claiming Iran shot down Apache helicopter
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The news: US President Donald Trump said the United States “must, of necessity, respond” to what he said was an attack by Iran that “shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache helicopters” near the Strait of Hormuz.
The claim came after a US Navy drone boat rescued the two-person crew of the downed AH-64 Apache in what US Central Command spokesman Capt Tim Hawkins described as the first known drone rescue at sea by the US military.
The unmanned 7.3-metre Saronic Corsair vessel, assigned to the Navy’s Task Force 59, located the two aviators after they spent about two hours in the water off the coast of Oman and brought them to shore, Hawkins told media.
Centcom said the crew were in stable condition, while Trump told reporters at JFK Airport on Monday night that the pilots were “fine” and “nobody injured,” Reuters reported.
What they said: “I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted.
“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
The context: Trump’s post comes even as Axios reported that a US official had told the outlet a military investigation determined an Iranian drone struck the helicopter, causing it to crash, but that it had not been established whether the hit was intentional.
The sources: Donald Trump poste, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Associated Press, Reuters, Axios
