An Apache gunship went down near the Strait of Hormuz. It is a nasty, volatile choke point. Donald Trump says the two American pilots are fine. “Nobody injured,” he barked to reporters on the tarmac at JFK before boarding his flight. A report is coming, he promised. The Pentagon and State Department? Dead silence. We still do not know if it was an Iranian missile, a mechanical failure, or just bad luck.
The crash comes at a terrible time. Iran and Israel just paused their direct slugfest. They retreated to a shaky ceasefire, originally brokered on April 8, after Trump begged them to stop. But peace here is a mirage. Tehran already threatened to tear up the deal if Israel keeps bombing Hezbollah in Lebanon. Right on cue, the Israeli military ordered civilians to flee Tyre. They even targeted the Christian quarter. They claim Hezbollah is hiding there. No proof was offered, of course.
Trump needs a win. Badly. With midterm elections looming and his approval ratings in the gutter, he teased a potential deal with Iran “within a few days.” He offered zero details. We have heard this song before. Meanwhile, the war that the US and Israel kicked off on February 28 drags on, fueled by the latest round of missile strikes. Iran hit Israel on Sunday. Israel hit back at an Iranian petrochemical plant. Iran targeted Haifa. No one died, luckily.
Trump is losing patience. He reportedly called Benjamin Netanyahu and gave him a blunt ultimatum. “Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon,” Trump warned, according to an Axios interview. But Netanyahu is not listening. Israel refuses to stop its bloody Lebanon campaign, insisting it has nothing to do with any grand bargain with Tehran.
The stakes remain astronomical. Iran is still choking off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, blocking a fifth of the world’s energy supply. The US has responded with its own naval blockade of Iranian ports. Trump demands Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions. Tehran wants its frozen billions back, sanctions lifted, and control of the waterway. It is a classic standoff. Nobody is backing down.
