‘Leave Iran if you…’: Tehran warns US after attack on Iranian air defences

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday issued a curt warning to the US forces to leave the Persian Gulf as soon as possible. The warning comes after Iran launched missiles at Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, which hosts US forces, after Washington carried out airstrikes on Iranian targets following the crash of a US Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.

Taking to social media, Araghchi wrote, “Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the US opted to test our determination. Our powerful armed forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered. Leave our region if you want to be safe. History of the Persian Gulf has many chapters on dire fates of intruding outsiders.” 

Neither Jordan nor the US immediately acknowledged any attack on Jordan, and Bahrain and Kuwait also did not issue warnings after Iran claimed to have targeted sites there.

The latest exchange has further strained a two-month ceasefire in the Iran war and raised fresh questions over efforts to secure a permanent truce. The conflict has already disrupted the Strait of Hormuz, pushed up global energy prices and made essentials, including food, more expensive.

US Central Command said fighter jets from the US Air Force and Navy struck Iranian “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites”. Iran acknowledged strikes around Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island but gave no details on damage. “The operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on US forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters,” Central Command said.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and a base hosting US troops in Kuwait with a drone. Missile alert sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the 5th Fleet. Earlier, Donald Trump said Iran had shot down the helicopter during a patrol over the strait and that the US “must, of necessity, respond to this attack”.

A US official said the AH-64 Apache crashed after colliding with an Iranian drone, though it was unclear if the collision was intentional, and the investigation is continuing. US Central Command said two aviators were rescued about two hours later in what it described as the first known US military drone rescue at sea.

Captain Tim Hawkins said a 24-foot Corsair vessel assigned to Navy Task Force 59 picked them up before a helicopter recovered them. Trump said both service members were “safe and uninjured”. Soon after Trump’s accusation, Araghchi said the strait is “thousands of miles away from US shores” and wrote: “To reduce risk, the best solution is for them to leave.”

The downing of the helicopter came a day after Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time since the truce took effect. Iranian state television said Israeli strikes killed at least two members of Iran’s air-defence units, while officials have still not turned the April ceasefire into a permanent deal as Israel expands its campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah.

(With agency inputs)