The United States has launched a fresh round of strikes against Iran following the downing of a US military helicopter. And Iran says it has hit back in response.
In a social media post on Tuesday, US Central Command said fighter jets struck Iranian air defenses, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz. It says the operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on US forces and commercial ships.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says Iranian naval forces carried out a drone attack on the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy in Bahrain at 2:30 a.m. local time. A statement released on Wednesday says the move was in response to a "hostile act by the enemy."
A US Central Command spokesperson told NHK that Iran's claim is false.
US President Donald Trump said earlier on social media that Iran had shot down an Apache helicopter patrolling the strait. He said the two pilots were "safe and uninjured" and the United States must respond out of "necessity."
The flare up in tensions comes after Trump said Washington and Tehran are in the "final throes" of securing a peace deal.