U.S. Strikes Iranian Targets, Including Water Reservoirs, After Iran Downs Apache Helicopter

U.S. Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman on Monday night.

U.S. Would respond. Washington Examiner reported that the helicopter incident prompted the decision to relaunch attacks. "We’re attacking them very hard," President Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

President Trump said he gave Iran a break at the request of Pakistani Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. "It was just tap, tap, tap.

I don’t know what they’re doing, so they then shot at our helicopter, very expensive helicopter, by the way, but much more the two men," President Trump recounted. "We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers, because you know what, they dealt with some very stupid presidents," he added.

U.S. has moved 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. " A veteran of Trump’s presidential campaigns told the Washington Examiner that the damaged ceasefire talks had become unsustainable.

The president has repeatedly extended the negotiating window with Iran since April and reached a breaking point, the person said. A former national security official who worked in Trump’s first White House said Israel’s resumption of fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon against the president’s wishes showed that the deal could be blown up at any moment.

"I think President Trump is being genuine when he says he’d prefer to make a deal than continue the fighting, but he also can’t afford to look weak," the former White House aide said.