Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Talking peace and war in the same breath, the US and Iran struck each other on Tuesday and Wednesday even after Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah agreed to cease their own war, as the West Asian conflict entered the 103rd day with multiple and fragile ceasefires, the media reported.
The US military launched airstrikes, and Iran retaliated on Wednesday following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that US President Donald Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic.
Iran launched attacks in Bahrain and Kuwait, which both sounded alerts and fired air defences in response. Iran also said it targeted an air base in Jordan hosting US forces, which was not immediately acknowledged either by American or Jordanian officials.
Since the US and Israel began striking Iran on February 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive in dozens of countries.
Officials have been unable to turn the April 8 ceasefire into a US-Iran peace deal to end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
Fresh strikes
Fighter jets from the US Air Force and Navy conducted the strikes in Iran, the US military’s Central Command said, targeting “air defence, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites.” Iran acknowledged strikes around Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island, but gave no details on the damage.
“The operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on US forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters,” the US Central Command said.
President Donald 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 US “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said foreign military forces near its territory “are at constant risk” and later vowed that there would be a response to the new US strikes.
Iranian forces “will leave no attack or threat unanswered,” he said on X. “Leave our region if you want to be safe.”
The downing of the Apache attack helicopter and the strikes by the US 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 on Tuesday that the Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country’s air-defence units.
Mid-air collision
The Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter went down after colliding with an Iranian drone, according to a US official. It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional, and official statements only said the crash is under investigation.
In the first known operation of its kind by the American military, a drone boat rescued two aviators at 3:30 am local time on Tuesday, about two hours after their aircraft went down during a patrol off the coast of Oman, US Central Command said.
Trump said both service members were “safe and uninjured.” The US service members were spotted and picked up by a drone boat that took them to another location on the water, where they were picked up by a helicopter, said Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command. He initially said the drone took the two to shore, and he did not elaborate on the updated timeline.
It was the first known drone rescue at sea by the US military, Hawkins said.
AH-64 Apache helicopters have been a key asset for the American military as it enforces a blockade on Iranian crude oil shipments and tankers, seeking to pressure Tehran into a deal. The helicopters have also been used by the United Arab Emirates to shoot down Iranian drones.
Soon after Trump made his accusation that Iran shot down the aircraft, Araghchi said the strait is “thousands of miles away from US shores.” “Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire,” Araghchi wrote on social media. “To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave.”
The US-Iran deal
Before he accused Iran of downing the US helicopter, Trump expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran, but didn’t say why there was reason for optimism. In the last 100-odd days, he has spoken of the so-called ‘coming deal’ at least 38 times.
Mediators, led predominantly by Pakistan, have been trying for weeks to get a deal across the line. However, both Iran and the US have taken hard-line positions.
The US wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of over 440 kg of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be entombed in the aftermath of American airstrikes that happened during the 12-day war in 2025. But Iran is refusing that and demanding relief from sanctions, and also the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something Trump has rejected.
The continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is still a top Iranian priority. Lebanon’s army chief, General Rodolphe Haykal, travelled to Pakistan on Tuesday to meet its army chief, “Field Marshal” Asim Munir, who has been a key figure in the Iran-US truce talks.
Haykal’s visit comes as Lebanon’s government takes an increasingly hard line on Hezbollah but remains unable to disarm the powerful militia. Hezbollah thanked Iran on Tuesday for attacking Israel “in defense of our Lebanese people,” suggesting that Lebanon’s government should take this opportunity to improve relations with Tehran.