U.S. Launches New ‘Self-Defense’ Strikes on Iran Over Apache Helicopter Crash

Downed AH-64 Copter

The U.S. military on Tuesday carried out what it called “self-defense” strikes on Iran in response to an alleged Iranian attack on a U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz the day before. “The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” U.S. Central Command wrote on X.

U.S. President Donald Trump had telegraphed the strikes in a post on Truth Social earlier on Tuesday. Although he noted that both service members who were in the helicopter had been rescued and were “safe and uninjured,” he added, “Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

According to Centcom, the helicopter was patrolling waters off the coast of Oman when it went down, prompting the first known U.S. drone rescue operation at sea. Initial U.S. reports suggest that the helicopter was struck by an Iranian drone; however, it is unclear whether the Apache was the intended target or if it was inadvertently hit.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister reportedly told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Tehran did not deliberately target the helicopter. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that “[f]oreign 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.”

The U.S. operation represents a potentially significant escalation in hostilities, despite Trump claiming just hours earlier that a deal with Tehran could be reached within two to three days.

“This is a response to what they did they did with our helicopter last night, and I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” Trump told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl Tuesday evening.

Whether the situation deteriorates further now depends on how Tehran responds. Before the U.S. strikes began, Iranian media cited an unnamed military source in the country warning that there would be a “decisive response in event of renewed ‘hostility by the enemy’ under the pretext of the crash of the U.S. Apache helicopter.”

All of this comes at the same time that Trump is urging Israel to avoid provoking Iran. Israel and Iranian forces traded fire on Monday over Israel’s attack on Beirut the day before, which Israel said was in retaliation for a recent Hezbollah assault. Only after Trump pleaded for calm did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree to hold off on further strikes against Iran. Still, Tehran has warned that any future attack on Beirut or its surrounding suburbs will prompt “much more severe and crushing measures than before.”

“Tehran has added another layer: Lebanese flash points can trigger Iranian action, even when Iranian territory itself is not struck,” Ali Hashem argued in Foreign Policy on Tuesday. “That is why Lebanon now reads less like a separate theater and more like the battlefield where the conditions of the next Iran war are being prepared.”

Despite Iran demanding that Israel halt its operations in Lebanon, Netanyahu has refused to back down, instead stressing Israel’s right to counter the Iranian proxy group. On Tuesday, Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed at least eight people. Israel had issued an evacuation order for the coastal city earlier that day, including for the previously excluded Christian quarter. But the assault still marked the deadliest attack on Tyre since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah reerupted in March.

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What We’re Following

Drone incursions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined Nordic and Baltic leaders in Estonia on Tuesday to address repeated drone incursions into NATO territory. In recent months, Ukrainian drones have strayed into Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and other countries, forcing locals to seek shelter, damaging key infrastructure, and even contributing to the collapse of a Baltic government. Kyiv has blamed Russian electronic interference for the incidents.

To counter this, Zelensky on Tuesday offered to help these nations work on cheaper strategies to shoot down foreign drones. This could include providing low-cost interceptor drones to help build a shield against attacks as well as training locals in anti-drone technology—similar to what Ukraine has provided countries in the Middle East.

Zelensky also urged NATO members to bolster their support for Kyiv. “All of our partners now note that Ukraine’s positions on the front are significantly stronger, and so our diplomacy, which we are working to step up, must proceed from that,” the Ukrainian president said.

But not all NATO members appear to be convinced. On Tuesday, Bulgaria announced that it will no longer send weapons to Ukraine, arguing that the conflict will not be resolved on the battlefield. “What we are witnessing is a war of attrition, and no matter how much weaponry is amassed, its only result is the loss of human lives,” Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said.

A year of war. Global interstate conflicts hit record levels in 2025, doubling for a second consecutive year to reach the highest number of wars since World War II, according to a new study published Tuesday by researchers at the Uppsala Conflict Data Program at Sweden’s Uppsala University. The eight flagged conflicts were Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia, Israel and Syria, Israel and Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the United States/United Kingdom and Yemen. The researchers also counted 57 active intrastate conflicts.

Of all the conflicts, the Russia-Ukraine war was the deadliest, accounting for 62 percent of all battle-related deaths. Worldwide, around 244,600 fatalities were recorded in 2025, up from the previous year’s roughly 187,000 fatalities. This increase was largely driven by a massive surge in one-sided violence: 14,300 deaths in 2024 versus 76,500 such deaths in 2025. That makes 2025 the second-deadliest year for one-sided violence—which the report defines as the targeting of civilians—since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Fighting between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces accounted for the bulk of one-sided deaths.

“The extremely high number of conflicts and wars recorded in 2025, particularly the record number of interstate conflicts, lends credence to a growing number of voices arguing that we are witnessing the end of Pax Americana and the liberal world order,” the report’s authors argued.

Declining ICC trust. Karim Khan, the chief prosector of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was suspended on Monday over allegations of sexual misconduct. Khan was already on voluntary leave due to the accusations; however, he now faces permanent dismissal. For that to happen, the court’s executive body would have to find that he committed serious misconduct; a majority of the court’s member states would have to vote to uphold that finding; and then they would have to vote again for his removal. A special session on the matter is expected to be convened “as soon as possible.”

In May 2024, accusations emerged that Khan had engaged in sexual misconduct with a female staff member; previous reporting cited documents that described “non-consensual sexual contact.” An initial investigation into the incident was closed after the alleged victim chose not to participate, but claims that the court’s oversight body mishandled the investigation soon prompted a second referral. Khan’s legal team has issued a statement denying any wrongdoing on his part and vowed to challenge Monday’s suspension, calling the decision “unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence.”

Experts warn that the allegations could sour already fragile trust in the ICC and raise concerns about the prosecutor’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In recent years, the court’s rulings against Israel have triggered a slew of U.S. sanctions and Israeli threats. Moscow has also convicted and sentenced Khan and other ICC officials over the court’s actions.

Odds and Ends

After several days of uncertainty, Japanese authorities on Tuesday finally captured a wild black bear in the city of Utsunomiya. The bear was first spotted late Saturday, prompting local officials to close all 94 municipal primary and middle schools in the area as well as to urge residents to stay indoors. But Utsunomiya may not be out of the woods yet; a possible second bear sighting has forced schools to remain closed through Wednesday. Bear attacks have spiked across Japan in recent years, as reduced harvests, depopulated rural areas, and a decline in hunting have emboldened the animals to enter urban settlements in search of food.