Task Force Falcon Strike will utilize one-way attack drones composed of unmanned systems from above, on and below the sea, managed by U.S. military support staff and regional partners, according to a Thursday release.

The move to launch this unit follows CENTCOM’s establishment of Task Force Scorpion Strike in December 2025, a Middle East-based task force equipped with one-way attack drones as the military strived to integrate drone technology across the services.

“Task Force Falcon Strike will expand on Scorpion Strike’s success given the tremendous innovation happening among our regional allies and partners,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in the release. “Integrating and deploying our new capabilities together will help us rapidly realize the new possibilities that are on the horizon.”

Scorpion Strike was the first to launch an aerial attack drone from a U.S. Navy warship last December, the month of its announcement. The unit also deployed one-way unmanned aerial systems during Operation Epic Fury and during strikes on Iranian port facilities in July with unmanned attack vessels at sea, the statement highlights.

CENTCOM began consulting with and officially inviting regional partners to join Falcon Strike, aiming to expand attack-drone capabilities across the Middle East into a “unified multi-domain, multinational deterrent.”

“The United States military has a lot of strong partnerships and friends in the region,” Cooper said. “We are collectively stronger when we integrate and deploy new capabilities together.”

The release did not specify which regional partners CENTCOM is working with on the unit.

Personnel from the U.S. Special Operations Command Central, located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, will lead Falcon Strike’s staff of U.S. and regional representatives after it launched Scorpion Strike, the release states.

The announcement comes as the U.S. continues its war with Iran, which has depleted the U.S. munitions stockpile and caused military leaders to weigh the possibility of developing cheaper anti-drone technology at a faster pace.

The poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, also showed the Republican president’s approval rating ticking higher to 37%, up 3 points from last month when his rating tied the lowest of his presidency.

Trump has offered shifting objectives for the conflict such as aiding Iranians to topple their leaders, taking out Iran’s ballistic-missile capabilities and preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The poll found that 69% of Americans — including four in 10 Republicans — think Trump has not “clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran.”

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Trump will not make decisions based on “fluid opinion polls” and reiterated the president’s resolve to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“What matters most to the American people is having a commander in chief who takes bold action to keep them safe,” Wales said.

Approval of the conflict has been below 40% since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on February 28 — a stark contrast to the opening months of other recent conflicts.

While each had different context, the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011 had the support of about 70% of Americans in its early months. During the early days of the Afghanistan War, which lasted from 2001 to 2021, about 90% of the country backed the war, according to polling by Gallup.

‘No idea’ why US at war

Public disapproval of the war is weighing on Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections when the president’s allies will defend slim majorities in the U.S. Congress.

“It’s not clear why we started a war with them. I have no idea,” said Alex Womack, a retired turbine repair specialist from Stockbridge, Georgia, who became a Republican in part because he liked how Republican President George H.W. Bush handled the Gulf War in 1991.

Womack, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during that conflict, said his support for Trump has ebbed because of the war. “I don’t think he’s doing very well, personally,” he said.

To date, 18 American soldiers have died in the conflict while thousands have died in Iran and in Lebanon, where Iran-allied fighters have battled Israeli forces.

The war has pushed gasoline prices sharply higher, a blow to the finances of many Americans. Gasoline prices are averaging just over $4 a gallon nationwide, up from about $3 a gallon just before the war started on February 28.

“This puts pressure on the party in a myriad of ways, all of them bad,” said Alex Conant, a Republican political strategist and a White House spokesman during the presidency of George W. Bush. “The White House officials have been saying since January that they need to win economic arguments. It’s hard to win the economic arguments when you’re clearly focused on foreign policy.”

Independent registered voters in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were favoring the Democratic congressional candidate over the Republican by 36% to 20%. Independent voters also favored Democrats over Republicans on economic policy, the poll found.

Trump vowed to stay out of wars

In campaigning for the 2024 presidential election, Trump said he would keep the U.S. out of enduring conflicts. He initially estimated the Iran war would last four to five weeks. He has bristled over comparisons to other wars, including the Vietnam War, which lasted two decades and claimed the lives of more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers.

Rhyan Anderson, an independent from Fairburn, Georgia, who voted for Trump in 2024, said he thinks Trump should focus on domestic problems rather than on helping Israel or other allies.

“My biggest thing is just focus on the people who are actually in the country,” said Anderson, who works two jobs in security and data collection and said he voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. “I know we have allies and things like that, but there’s a lot of people here that really need help.”

Since mid-March, the Reuters/Ipsos survey has asked respondents whether they support or oppose military strikes on Iran. At that time, 37% said they supported the war.

That compared to 27% approval on the day the war began, when the Reuters/Ipsos survey also gave respondents the option to choose unsure, which 29% did.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, which was conducted online and nationwide, gathered responses from 1,246 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.

The purchase, valued at $60-$70 million, is one of Tehran’s largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air defenses since the outbreak of its war with the U.S. and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran’s ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure.

The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said.

The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.

IRAN REARMING AFTER MONTHS OF WAR

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

“The relevant reports are completely groundless,” China’s Foreign Ministry said. “China has consistently played a role in promoting peace and ending the conflict.”

Queried about the deal at a regular press conference in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin said he was “not familiar with the relevant situation”.

Beijing-based Zhong Qing Bao Shang Group, the parent company of Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment on Tuesday.

Iran’s reported rearming efforts come after months of fighting in which the U.S. and Israel have struck facilities linked to its missile, drone and air defense programs, and Tehran responded with barrages of ballistic missiles and drones.

The conflict has highlighted the challenge of defending fixed military and strategic sites against advanced aircraft and precision-guided weapons.

Washington abruptly suspended two weeks of bombardment on Saturday, but President Donald Trump said strikes would resume if negotiations failed to end the five-month-old conflict, which has in theory been in a state of ceasefire since April.

Responding to this article, Trump said Iran receiving such equipment from China would be surprising given what he said were assurances from Chinese President Xi Jinping not to get involved in the war on Iran’s behalf.

“I mean, things like that happen, but that would be surprising. [Xi] told me very strongly he wouldn’t partake, but he knows I’d be quite disappointed,” Trump said on Wednesday in response to a question about this report.

The delivery of hundreds of MANPADS would significantly expand Iran’s inventory of short-range air defense weapons and underscore how military ties with China are deepening.

The sources cautioned that, although the agreement had been signed, delivery schedules, quantities and other implementation details could still change.

Under a plan agreed by the parties, deliveries will initially be by air from Urumqi in western China, then transiting through Pakistan to Iran, according to the sources, who did not clarify whether the transfers would take place by air or by road.

“Speculations of Pakistan being involved in supply of Air Defense weapons to Iran from China are absolutely concocted and false,” Pakistan’s military public relations wing ISPR said.

A spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

SOURCES: CHINA, IRAN EYE LAND ROUTES FOR DELIVERY

While Iran has invested heavily in the past two decades in missiles, drones and radar, military experts say portable air defense systems are important because they can be dispersed quickly, operated by small teams and relocated frequently, making them less vulnerable than fixed air defense batteries.

A European security source said authorities in his country were aware of several contracts under discussion involving the possible sale of QW-series MANPADS to Iran, including QW-12, QW-18 and QW-19 systems.

A second security source, in the Middle East, said Iran had been seeking to purchase QW-12 and QW-18 missiles, but they were unaware that a deal had already been concluded.

The QW-12 and FN-16 are shoulder-fired, infrared-guided surface-to-air missile systems designed to engage low-flying aircraft, helicopters and drones. Their mobility allows them to be deployed rapidly around military installations, energy infrastructure and other sensitive sites.

Defense analysts regard the QW-12 as less capable than newer QW variants, including the QW-18 and QW-19, but say the systems can still provide an effective layer of short-range protection against drones and low-flying targets.

Two Western intelligence sources and an Iranian official said Tehran had also explored the use of overland routes to move Chinese military supplies and dual-use components more discreetly and reduce the risk of disruption.

The procurement highlights the Islamic Republic’s continuing reliance on a combination of domestic weapons production and foreign suppliers despite years of sanctions and restrictions on defense related imports.

Reuters previously reported that Iran was close to securing a separate agreement with China to acquire anti-ship cruise missiles, according to people familiar with those negotiations. Reuters could not determine whether the agreement went through.

U.S. Army Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, and 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, died July 17 and July 18, respectively, according to a Department of Defense release.

The active-duty soldiers were killed during an enemy attack at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan.

Gonzales was stationed at Ansbach, Germany, assigned to 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command.

Feehan was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 32nd Army Air Missile Defense Command.

The incident is currently under investigation, the release states.

On Saturday, U.S. Central Command announced that another U.S. service member is missing following the attack, while four troops, who have since been discharged, were medically evacuated to hospitals in Jordan.

For the ninth consecutive night, the U.S. “hit [Iran] very hard again tonight,” President Donald Trump said on Sunday. The strikes, he said, were in honor of the soldiers who were killed.

“The strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” a CENTCOM post from Sunday reads.

Trump said that “probably” three service members were killed in action, as opposed to two.

As of Monday morning, the Pentagon had not clarified whether a third service member was killed in action.

The command said in a social media post Sunday that U.S. military personnel found unidentified remains at the location of the attack. CENTCOM said that an examination process to verify the remains is ongoing.

The deaths of Gonzales and Feehan bring the toll of American troops killed in the war with Iran to 16. More than 400 U.S. troops have been wounded in the campaign, which began Feb. 28.

Separately, on July 18, a U.S. service member was killed in action in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.

“A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

CENTCOM had not yet provided additional information Monday, such as the identities of those service members killed or missing.

Military conflicts, especially the war in Iran, have “tested” the Space Force substantially for the past five months, Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, said Thursday in a hearing to discuss the nomination of Schiess to be the third-ever chief of space operations for the Space Force.

“Space Force assets were among the first to be deployed in Operation Epic Fury and among the first to be targeted,” Reed said in the hearing. “Iran has specifically targeted Space Force command and control nodes and weapon systems throughout this conflict.”

In an Air Force statement announcing Schiess’ nomination, it said that operations such as Iran and Venezuela have “underscored guardians’ ability to deliver combat-ready, asymmetric advantages from space.”

Iran has claimed to have the ability to effectively use the space domain for satellite intelligence and reconnaissance and space launch vehicles with assistance from partners, such as Russia, which could interfere with U.S. or allied assets.

Reed said that Space Force officials before Schiess spent the past seven years since its creation building the organization from scratch through focusing on issues like personnel, infrastructure and base operations.

“That was appropriate for a new service finding its footing, but the Space Force is quickly becoming a mature warfighting entity,” Reed said.

Schiess argued that American space capabilities are crucial to deterring adversaries, like China and Russia, as the countries continue to boost their own capabilities in an effort to exploit space for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes as well as fielding systems that can threaten the U.S. link to American forces.

“The United States no longer has the luxury of viewing space as a permissive environment,” Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said in the hearing. “China and Russia have made clear that they see space as a critical warfighting domain.”

In particular, Schiess said that China’s anti-satellite tests and electronic jamming capabilities are “worrisome” as they use their efforts to target American forces farther than in the past.

“[China] built a kill chain to be able to see our carrier strike groups, our bombers, at much farther pace, speed and distances, and they’ve also developed missiles and weapon systems to go after that,” Schiess said. “So the Space Force needs to be able to bring capability to deny, degrade that kill web to be able to protect the joint force.”

When asked if the fight of the next major conflict would be in space, Schiess said it’s a possibility. He said that if not, space would be at the very forefront of a conflict, especially with China and Russia.

“I think about China every day,” Schiess said.

Schiess was first nominated by President Donald Trump to be the force’s highest-ranking officer in May. If confirmed, he would take over the role from Gen. Chance Saltzman, who is scheduled to retire this year after serving in the role for four years.

After a day in which huge crowds mourned Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, U.S. Central Command announced that it had begun a series of strikes intended to impose what it called heavy costs. “Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” CENTCOM said on X.

Iranian media reported explosions early Wednesday local time in the southern port city of Sirik, on Qeshm Island, and in Bandar Abbas. The reports said strikes hit a commercial pier in Sirik and fishing piers in both Sirik and Bandar Abbas.

A U.S. official told Reuters that strikes targeted Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and drone launch sites.

The incidents were only the latest threat to the ceasefire agreement the U.S. and Iran struck last month, pausing the conflict that started in February with U.S. and Israeli strikes across the Islamic Republic. In a potentially major blow to that agreement, Washington moved on Tuesday to withdraw a key concession that had allowed Iran to sell oil on international markets.

Oil prices rose more than 3% after the U.S. announced the move.

A U.S. official said earlier negotiators continued to work in good faith toward a final agreement with Iran. But control of the strait has given Tehran immense leverage, effectively allowing it to force a stalemate with the world’s most powerful military. Analysts say Tehran uses attacks on ships to underscore that leverage as it negotiates a long-term peace deal with the U.S.

Under the interim U.S.-Iran agreement, the U.S. Treasury issued a June 22 general license to allow the sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin through August 21. In revoking that license on Tuesday, it gave Iran until July 17 to wind down any transactions.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the move as a breach of the framework agreement to end the war and said Washington would bear responsibility for the consequences.

The ministry said early on Wednesday that Iran would take any measure it deemed necessary to safeguard its interests and national security.

Qatar blamed Iran for attacking the vessels, including the huge Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, the Al Rekayyat, which reported being struck overnight by a drone that caused a fire in its engine room. The crew were safe and being evacuated.

A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, believed to be the supertanker Wedyan, was also damaged off Oman, maritime security sources said. The cause was not immediately clear.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador and handed him a protest note following the attack on the tanker.

Iran’s foreign ministry said Qatar’s accusations were perplexing and that Tehran was diligently fulfilling its commitments but asserted that commercial vessels faced risks for using routes not coordinated with Iran.

A second U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial indications were that Iran had fired at three commercial vessels.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TAKE TO STREETS IN QOM

Iran’s clerical rulers aim to install a permanent system to collect fees in what would amount to a huge shift of the balance of power in a region where Washington has long acted as guarantor of security.

At home, the leadership has used the mourning for Khamenei that began last week to show its control after Khamenei was killed with his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the war’s first day.

The caskets of the slain leader and family were driven through the streets of the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday, where many hundreds of thousands of people carried flags and banners comparing Khamenei to revered Shi’ite martyrs.

In chants they vowed to avenge Khamenei. Some bore placards and banners reading “KILL TRUMP”.

Later on Tuesday Iranian state media showed what it said was footage of an airplane carrying Khamenei’s coffin at the airport of the Shi’ite holy shrine city of Najaf in neighboring Iraq.

TRUMP: ‘MAKE A DEAL OR WE’RE GOING TO FINISH THE JOB’

The ceasefire was intended to provide a 60-day window for negotiations on a permanent agreement, but indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of headway.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing, most recently on Monday when he told reporters in the Oval Office: “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job….. We can knock down their bridges in one hour, we can knock out their energy supply.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that under the terms of the interim ceasefire memorandum, negotiations on the final deal would “not commence if threats continue”.

In launching the war four months ago, Trump said his aims were to destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, end its ability to threaten its neighbors and create conditions for Iranians to topple their leaders.

None of those goals has been met, although Washington says a permanent deal will halt what it says is an Iranian program that could make a nuclear bomb, which Iran says it never sought.

Trump will be traveling to North Dakota to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations, marking it the inaugural use of the Qatari-donated aircraft over a week after the U.S. Air Force began its commissioning flights.

The aircraft had to undergo significant renovations to deem it suitable for presidential use, and after the modifications “final exam,” it must complete an unknown amount of commissioning flights that allow the White House to confirm mission-capability and finalize protocols for the president’s safety.

After the flights are completed, the aircraft will be officially “commissioned” into the active executive airlift fleet and available for presidential use alongside the VC-25A and C-32 fleets.

The commissioning flights have yet to be completed, and a timeline has not been made clear.

One of the original VC-35As previously used by Trump took its last flight a day prior to the aircraft’s commissioning flights commencing.

Initially, plans to replace the aging VC-35A with two new VC-25B were slated for 2024, but supply chain issues and a lack of properly cleared workers delayed Boeing’s plans until 2028, causing the president to use the luxury jet Qatar donated to the U.S. in 2025.

The new Air Force One Boeing 747-8i sports the red, white and blue livery that Trump initially sought during his first presidential term in 2018.

In addition to taking the new Air Force One to North Dakota, the president also confirmed during the aircraft’s unveiling at Joint Base Andrews its use for the early July NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara, Turkey.

He also hinted that “at some point” this year, the administration will be traveling to China using the plane.

Trump is scheduled to appear in South Dakota on Friday for a fireworks show, but it is not clear which aircraft Trump will use to attend the demonstration.

The Qatari-donated Boeing VC-25B Bridge aircraft arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and will begin its initial commissioning flights, the U.S. Air Force announced Friday.

“Fresh from receiving its new red, white, and blue livery and the final government modifications, the aircraft has entered service to provide critical, secure continuity for the commander in chief,” the release reads.

The Air Force announced the interim presidential aircraft is on track for its summer delivery in May. The move to use the aircraft donated by Qatar followed President Donald Trump’s dissatisfaction of Boeing’s delay to replace the current Air Force One aging planes with the new VC-25B aircraft.

The initial timeline for the replacements was 2024, but a lack of properly cleared workers and supply chain issues pushed the date back to 2028.

The delivery of the Bridge aircraft is meant to relieve pressure on the aging fleet until the long-term VC-25B enters service, the release says.

The aircraft underwent security modifications to ensure it was suitable for a president, and Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink told lawmakers in June 2025 that it would cost less than $400 million to modify.

For the modification’s “final exam,” it must complete commissioning flights that allow White House officials to validate mission-capability and finalize protocols required for the president’s safe and secure transportation, the statement says.

Once the flights are completed, then the aircraft is considered officially “commissioned” into the active executive airlift fleet and will be available for the president’s use alongside the VC-25A and C-32 fleets.

The Air Force has not clarified the specific type of security modifications the aircraft completed, but the service did note in the announcement that it was altered in a “disciplined engineering approach” that prioritized rigorous safety requirements.

The Bridge aircraft is equipped with advanced technologies, with the previous interior layout minimally changed.

Pilots and maintainers began training last October with the lease of an Atlas Air 747-8F and then a purchase of a Lufthansa 747-8i to serve as a full-time training resource for the entire crew.

On top of the aircraft used for training, a three-dimensional mock-up of the Bridge aircraft’s interior was delivered to the White House in January so staff could begin familiarizing themselves ahead of the first commissioning flight.

“Many thought it could not be done, but the United States Air Force was able to execute and provide a secure, reliable airborne command post on an accelerated timeline,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said in the release.

The Air Force did not say how many commissioning flights the aircraft is set to complete or when Trump is expected to take his first flight in the new Air Force One.

This news comes after the VC-25A, which Trump was previously using, took its last flight Thursday, according to a social media post by a Trump administration official.

The Senate Armed Services Committee included a provision in its version of fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would reduce funding for Hegseth’s travel to no more than 25% until the committee receives what lawmakers describe as overdue reports and supporting documents.

The committee approved its version of the NDAA last week in an 18-9 vote, sending the bill to the full Senate. House lawmakers advanced their version the week prior.

The provision cuts Hegseth’s travel funding by 75% until the committee receives the civilian harm investigations for three separate 2025 Yemen strikes and the February strike on the girls’ school in Minab, Iran.

On Feb. 28, the first day of the Iran war, a school in southern Iran was struck by a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile, killing at least 165 people, most of them schoolgirls.

President Donald Trump claimed that Iran could have obtained the missile, despite questions about how Tehran would have gained access. The strike has been under investigation by the Pentagon since March.

Speaking on Wednesday in France, Trump was asked about the investigation and whether anyone in the Trump administration would be held accountable.

“It’s such a strange question to be asked at this state because you’re talking about a long time ago, but nobody did that on purpose,” he said in response.

“Mistakes are made. War is nasty. But I know it’s under investigation, and I could have a report for you tomorrow. I would ask Pete Hegseth that question because they have it under investigation,” he concluded.

Another provision in the Senate NDAA moved to prohibit the use of military funds for the operations against Iran without congressional authorization and restricted travel funding for Hegseth’s office until lawmakers submit a report on how the Iran war has impacted readiness. The amendment failed to pass in a 13-14 vote.

Unedited video of strikes conducted by U.S. Southern Command on terrorist organizations that were allegedly smuggling drugs in Latin American waters would also need to be submitted.

Since September 2025, the U.S. military has conducted strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that they alleged were carrying drugs.

As of June 16, the military has disclosed 64 strikes that have killed at least 191 people.

The committee is also seeking information about the Defense Department procedures for notifying Congress about sensitive military operations.

Lawmakers have previously criticized Hegseth over congressional oversight following reports that a special operations team attacked survivors of an alleged drug-smuggling vessel strike off Venezuela’s coast in September 2025.

Hegseth refused to publicly release footage of the attack, instead only showing members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee.

The provision would also require the unredacted investigation by U.S. Special Operations Command into Operation Absolution Resolve, the U.S. military operation executed on Jan. 20 to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Senate lawmakers also requested a certification that shows contractor support for clandestine and intelligence activities and a report on support to Ukraine required under last year’s NDAA.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president declared, “We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them hard again today.”

Trump initially claimed in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that Iran had shot down the aircraft, before revising his account a day later to say it was struck by an Iranian ordnance that failed to detonate on impact.

“That bomb was lodged in the helicopter, it didn’t explode. It was on fire but it didn’t explode,” Trump explained. “Those two guys, they knew how to fly, but they got very lucky.”

He then quipped: “You won’t believe the rescue, how cool it was.”

The crew members were retrieved by a remotely piloted Navy surface drone, in what Trump and military officials described as the first U.S. operation of its kind.

Still, the episode demonstrated one asymmetrical element of the conflict. U.S. officials said a low-cost Iranian Shahed-136 drone — estimated to cost roughly $20,000 — engaged the American attack helicopter valued at between $35 million and $40 million.

Describing the subsequent rescue, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for Central Command, told Military Times that the unmanned surface vessel retrieved the downed aviators and ferried them to a rendezvous point at sea, where they were then hoisted aboard a helicopter for extraction.

“The surface drone that assisted in [Monday’s] rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a U.S. Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59,” he said. “The task force began fielding these drones in theater in late March.”

The 24-foot Corsair — built by Texas-based Saronic Technologies — can carry payloads of up to 1,000 pounds over a 1,000-nautical-mile range and reach speeds of up to 35 knots, according to the company’s website.

Soon after the U.S. began carrying out retaliatory strikes on Tuesday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a social media post, wrote that “our powerful armed forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered.” The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later announced, through a statement carried by Iranian state TV, that it had conducted 21 attacks on U.S. bases across the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

But despite the fresh wave of attacks, Trump on Wednesday insisted that a peace agreement can be reached.

“We’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers,” Trump said. “All they have to do is they have to start signing a paper, it’s fully negotiated.”

Given that negotiations are highly sensitive and secret, it’s unclear how close — or distant — the sides are from an agreement.

A delegation of Qatari officials arrived in Iran on Wednesday in an effort to broker a deal between Washington and Tehran, a source familiar with the discussions told Military Times, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matters publicly.