Mike Baker

It's Tuesday, the 9th of June.

Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

All right, let's get briefed.

First up, President Trump says Iran shot down an American Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, and he's vowed a response.

We'll have the latest details on the incident and the remarkable rescue mission that followed.

Later in the show, new data suggests the world is becoming a far more dangerous place, with wars and conflicts reaching levels not seen since World War II.

But did we really need new data to help us understand that response?

It just kind of feels, I don't know, self-evident.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

President Trump says Iran shot down an American Apache attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz this week, and he's vowed that the U.S.

will respond.

In a post on Truth Social Tuesday, Trump said he'd been informed by military officials that Iranian forces were responsible for bringing down the AH-64 Apache while it was conducting patrol operations over the strategically vital waterway.

The president wrote, quote, the U.S.

must, of necessity, respond to this attack.

According to initial reporting, U.S.

officials believe the helicopter may have been struck by an Iranian drone, though investigators are still working to determine exactly how the aircraft was brought down and whether the drone deliberately targeted the aircraft.

The Apache crashed Monday evening in waters off the coast of Oman while operating near the Strait of Hormuz.

The helicopter's two crew members survived the incident and found themselves stranded in the water as American forces rushed to locate them.

And what happened next was something the U.S.