The specific details of what transpired on Monday are still coming into focus, but according to U.S. Central Command, an Army AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed off the coast of Oman, and the two crew members on board were rescued and are in stable condition. Whether the incident was the result of a deliberate Iranian attack is the subject of some debate.
The Trump administration accused Iran of downing the helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, while officials in Tehran said it was instead caught in the crossfire of drone attacks against commercial vessels.
Of particular interest, though, was Donald Trump’s reaction. On Tuesday morning, the president spoke to The Wall Street Journal and downplayed the importance of the incident. In fact, according to the Journal’s article, the Republican “repeatedly” said the downing of the helicopter “wasn’t a big deal.”
It soon became a very big deal, indeed.
A few hours after the president told the Journal that the incident wasn’t especially important, he used his social media platform to announce that Iranians “shot down” a U.S. helicopter, which would necessitate a military response. With this in mind, MS NOW reported overnight: