The American military helicopter that crashed near the coast of Oman threatens the shaky negotiations for a temporary peace agreement between the United States and Iran. It is Donald Trump who once again raises tension with Iran in the most delicate moment of the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. The American president wrote on Truth Social that Tehran shot down a US Army Apache helicopter engaged in a patrol mission. There were two pilots on board, both of whom were rescued.
The mystery of the Apache helicopter shot down in Oman
The US Central Command confirmed that an AH-64 Apache was shot down near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters, and that the two soldiers were recovered after about two hours and are in stable condition. But the cause of the crash remains under investigation, with no mention of an Iranian attack.
The episode comes as Washington seeks to turn the fragile ceasefire with Tehran into a more stable agreement. In the last few hours, Trump has said he sees a possible agreement “in two or three days”, but the picture remains unstable. Just yesterday Iran and Israel exchanged attacks again, further damaging the April truce. The United States is pushing to contain the escalation, while Israel continues to strike Hezbollah-linked targets in Lebanon and keeps the military option open against Iran.
Trump’s 37 fake ads
Now, the United States “must respond” to Iran’s shooting down of the Apache helicopter, US President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “I have just been informed by our great military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our very sophisticated Apache helicopters while it was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz”, announced the US president, specifying that there were two pilots on board, both “safe and sound and without injuries”. “Nevertheless, the United States must necessarily respond to this attack,” he added.
Trump assured that we are “very close to a final agreement with Iran”, he declared ad Axios. “It will be a good deal. I don’t want it to fall through because of what’s going on now.” However, in more than two months since announcing a ceasefire with Iran, Trump has consistently continued to claim that he is close to a deal with Tehran. And he did it on an almost daily basis between social media, public appearances and interviews with the media. However, despite the declarations, the agreement never arrived. There CNN has thus decided to put each of the tycoon’s outings in chronological order, reporting all the unsuccessful announcements: including the period preceding the truce, there are “at least” 37 times in which the agreement between Iran and the USA would have been imminent.