ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s chief diplomat on Tuesday urged foreign troops near the country’s territories to withdraw, warning they would otherwise be at “constant risk” of being caught in the crosshairs of regional escalation with the United States, while insisting that the Strait of Hormuz is not international waters.
Abbas Araghchi’s remarks came as US President Donald Trump had hours earlier vowed to retaliate against Tehran after it “shot down” a US helicopter patrolling over Hormuz.
“Our powerful armed forces are on constant alert for any violation of Iran’s airspace, land or waters,” Araghchi said in a post on X, warning foreign forces “in proximity to our territory” that they are “at constant risk on account of human error, accidents, or being caught in crossfire.”
The Iranian foreign minister added that “the best solution” is for these troops to “exit, as soon as possible, an environment which will never be hospitable to a hostile presence.”
He further stated that “the Strait of Hormuz is NOT international waters but shared between Iran and Oman, and located thousands of miles away from U.S. shores,” noting that while Tehran “prefers the language of diplomacy, our brave warriors know how to speak other languages too.”
Importantly, the latter comment was also made by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf who said in a post on X, “We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently.”
“Break your commitments, and we’ll switch to what we speak best. You ride the horse you saddled,” he warned.
The escalation in rhetoric by Iranian officials comes amid a warning from US President Donald Trump, who said on Tuesday, “I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz.”
He added that while “there were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured,” the US “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
Trump’s remarks came shortly after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported on Tuesday that “at 7:33 p.m. ET on June 8, two crew members from a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter were rescued by American forces after their aircraft went down near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters.”
Barak Ravid, a political reporter for the American website Axios, cited “a senior U.S. official” as saying that the investigation “determined that an Iranian drone struck the helicopter and caused it to crash.”
The official added however that “the investigation has not yet determined whether the strike was intentional or not, and the matter is still under review,” Ravid further noted in his post on X.
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