Trump blames Iran for Apache crash and says U.S. must respond

Trump publicly blamed Iran for downing the U.S. Apache near the Strait of Hormuz and said the United States must respond, shifting the incident from a crash investigation into a direct U.S. posture signal. AP, Axios and Sky carried the claim, while CBS and CENTCOM-linked reporting still describe the crew rescue as confirmed and the crash cause as under investigation.

Why this matters. An official presidential attribution can move the story faster than confirmed military evidence. The response promise is the trigger to watch because it could become a strike, a diplomatic demand, or leverage in nuclear talks.