The United States has begun military strikes against Iran after President Donald Trump blamed Tehran for shooting down a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, marking a dramatic escalation in an already volatile regional conflict. According to U.S. Central Command, American forces launched what it described as “self-defense” strikes beginning at approximately 5 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday. CENTCOM said the operation was a “proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression” following the loss of the helicopter. The strikes came just hours after Trump publicly accused Iran of downing the aircraft while it was conducting patrol operations near the Strait of Hormuz. In a Truth Social post Tuesday morning, the president declared that the United States “must, of necessity, respond” to the attack. Yet during a late-afternoon interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump appeared to downplay the incident, reportedly describing it as “not a big deal” because