President Donald Trump has vowed to retaliate after Iran shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter, but it’s unclear what that response will mean for the state of negotiations and the war.U.S. military personnel in the region have come under repeated Iranian attacks despite the ceasefire agreement Trump announced on April 7, and they have defended themselves and responded in kind. But the shooting down of a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache on Monday, and Trump’s subsequent promise to “respond to this attack,” raises additional questions about the state of the conflict moving forward.Even on Monday night, before Trump announced a day later that Iran was responsible for downing the helicopter, he told reporters that if he decides to restart offensive military operations against Iran, it would likely delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” the president said. “If we go and bomb — which we could do very easily if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing — they’ll have nothing left whatsoever. But you won’t have the strait open for months.”
The two pilots were rescued by a U.S. Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel, or drone boat, which picked them up, took them to a nearby location, and then hoisted them up to a helicopter for further transport, a Central Command spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
