ABP Live's headline that the United States launched fresh strikes on Iran after Tehran downed a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz checks out against multiple primary and wire sources.

What happened

US Central Command said American forces struck Iranian air defence, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions, in response to the loss of a US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter the previous evening.

According to Al Jazeera, the US attacks ran from 22:00 GMT Tuesday to just before 01:00 GMT Wednesday, with Iran's state broadcaster IRIB reporting explosions on Qeshm Island and at the ports of Sirik, Jask and later Bandar Abbas. CENTCOM described the operation as a "proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression."

The helicopter incident

The Apache went down near the coast of Oman on Monday evening. CBS News reports that two crew members were rescued unharmed — in what officials called the first-ever sea-drone rescue carried out by the US military, conducted by a Task Force 59 unmanned surface vessel.

President Donald Trump publicly blamed Iran in a Truth Social post, writing that Iranian forces had shot down the helicopter while it patrolled over the strait and that the United States "must, of necessity, respond." Two US officials told Axios and CBS News that initial investigations point to an armed Iranian Shahed one-way attack drone striking the aircraft, though it remains unclear whether the strike was deliberate.

Iran's response

Iran has not formally claimed responsibility. CNBC notes that IRIB initially said no offensive operations had been carried out in the strait in the preceding 24 hours, while Tasnim News Agency reported Tehran would retaliate against the US strikes. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that foreign forces near Iranian territory were "at constant risk" from accidents or crossfire, adding that Iran preferred diplomacy but could "speak other languages too."

Context

The escalation comes during a fragile two-month ceasefire between Iran and Israel brokered in April, which had already been strained by fresh Israel-Iran exchanges a day earlier. Trump has simultaneously insisted a nuclear deal with Tehran is close, though no agreement has been signed.

Verdict

The core claims in ABP Live's headline — that Iran downed a US Apache in the Strait of Hormuz and that the US responded with fresh strikes — are confirmed by CENTCOM statements and multiple independent outlets including CNN, CBS, NBC, Axios, Al Jazeera and Military Times. The headline is **true**, with the caveat that Iran has not publicly admitted responsibility and the US investigation has not concluded whether the drone strike was intentional.