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Donald Trump has called for revenge on Iran after an American helicopter was shot down.
A drone boat rescued two pilots who were on the Apache attack helicopter when it crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed.
In a Truth Social post, Donald Trump 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.
‘There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.’
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command said it was the first known drone rescue at sea by the American forces.
Military officials did not say what caused the Apache helicopter to go down, saying the crash was under investigation but Trump said he learned Iran was responsible before posting.
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A senior military official told Axios that an investigation determined that an Iranian drone struck the AH-64 Apache but the official stressed they had not yet determined whether that was an intentional Iran attack.
Before he accused Iran of shooting down the helicopter, Trump had expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran.
‘We have a good chance’ of signing a deal in ‘two or three days,’ Trump said. But he didn’t provide any details on why there was reason for new optimism. In the two months since the U.S. and Iran agreed to an initial ceasefire, Trump has repeatedly predicted that a deal is near.
‘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.’
This is a breaking news story… More to follow…