It was 3.30am and pitch black when an Iranian Shahed drone slammed into the canopy of a US Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman. The drone’s warhead ignited but did not explode, leaving the aircraft inoperable and its two pilots with only moments to issue a distress call before ditching into the water below. In a scene reminiscent of a sci-fi movie, they were located and picked up by a water-borne Corsair drone operated by the US navy, then winched aboard a second helicopter. “The soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition,” US Central Command announced on Monday. “The cause of the incident is under investigation.”
The downing of the Apache provided the spark that reignited intense fighting between the US and Iran over the last few days. But analysts say it was a clandestine US oil-running operation the helicopter was involved in – and the parlous state of US-Iran peace talks – that caused it to flare. As reported by The Telegraph a week ago, the US has been using helicopters to guide commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in secret for some time. Dozens of mostly US-flagged vessels have been shepherded through the strategic waterway on a route hugging the Omani coast, with their transponders switched off and often sailing under cover of darkness to avoid detection. The Apaches patrol above, engaging and neutralising Iranian drones and fast boats where necessary.
“A US Apache helicopter was downed by an Iranian drone during a secret oil-running mission in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Last month, I directed our Great U.S. Military to execute a secret mission to support Oil Tankers and other Commercial Ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” Donald Trump said on his Truth Social website on Wednesday. The operation had allowed about 200 commercial ships to cross the strait and 100 million barrels of crude oil to reach global markets, the US president claimed. Given that around 135 ships per day navigate the strait in peacetime, the oil-running operation was small-beer, but it will nevertheless have agitated Tehran, which, since the outbreak of hostilities in February, has laid claim to the waterway. Without the “ace card” of control of the strait, it has little leverage over the US, so could ill afford a leak of vessels escaping its trap becoming a flood, say analysts. Iran has repeatedly attacked commercial ships seeking to transit without its permission since February and – after the downing of the Apache – warned that any foreign military forces near Iranian territory were “at constant risk”.
Amid the escalation, Donald Trump said he cancelled planned airstrikes against Iran and that discussions with Iran had been “brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership, and approved”. There has been no word yet on that from Tehran. Meanwhile, the UN chief Antonio Guterres called for a comprehensive ceasefire in both Iran and Lebanon, where more Israeli airstrikes targeted villages in the south.