June 9, 2026
A downed U.S. helicopter show Trump’s war has only emboldened Iran
Less than two weeks into the war against Iran, President Donald Trump was already throwing a victory parade.
“You never like to say too early you won,” Trump told supporters on March 11. “We won. In the first hour it was over.”
Two days later, he was at it again, writing Iran was “totally defeated” and was living in such a desperate existence that its leadership was begging for a deal.
Yet this past weekend, Iran launched new missile salvos at Israel, which replied in kind. And on Tuesday, Trump said in a social media post that Iran had downed a U.S. Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. The pilots were unharmed, but Trump said “the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
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