Dubai: Iran said Wednesday, June 10, it launched a missile attack targeting an air base in Jordan hosting US forces.
Neither Jordan nor the US immediately acknowledged any attack targeting Jordan. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base.
That air base has hosted American F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft. Tehran had vowed to respond after the US launched airstrikes on Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military launched airstrikes Wednesday on Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that U.S. President Donald Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic.
Also ReadUS army Apache crashes near Strait of Hormuz, pilots ‘fine’
Tehran vowed to respond, again throwing into question efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire in the Iran war that’s seen the Strait of Hormuz effectively choked off and global energy prices spike. Missile alert sirens sounded in the island kingdom of Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which Tehran said it targeted for retaliation.
Fighter jets from the US Air Force and Navy conducted the strikes, the US military’s Central Command said, targeting “air defense, 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,” Central Command said.
Iran then claimed it targeted the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and a military base hosting US troops in Kuwait with a drone. However, neither Bahrain nor Kuwait issued no warning about such an assault.
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”. Iran’s top diplomat 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”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi 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 Tuesday that the Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country’s air-defense units.
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.
Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
US helicopter collided with Iranian drone, official says
The Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter went down after colliding with an Iranian drone, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional, and official statements only said the crash is under investigation. CNN, CBS News and other outlets earlier reported the collision.
In the first known operation of its kind by the American military, a drone boat rescued two aviators at 3:30 am local time 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 Capt 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 UAE to shoot down Iranian drones.
The drone used to perform the rescue was a 24-foot (7.3-meter) vessel called a Corsair, Hawkins said. It’s manufactured by Saronic Technologies.
The drone was assigned to the Navy’s Task Force 59, established in 2021 as the Navy’s first uncrewed and artificial intelligence unit that focuses on maritime security in the Middle East, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal.
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.”
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