Six Iranian attack boats lie at the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz this morning. U.S. Army AH-64 Apache and Navy MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters destroyed them in a burst of coordinated firepower on May 4, 2026 — the opening act of “Project Freedom,” Washington’s muscular bid to reopen the world’s most critical oil chokepoint. The engagement marks the first confirmed U.S. combat use of attack helicopters against Iranian naval forces. It is a dramatic escalation in a crisis that has seen shipping traffic through the strait collapse by more than 90 percent since February. The boats were Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast-attack craft — the same type that have harassed commercial tankers and U.S. warships in the Gulf for years. This time, they met Hellfire missiles instead of warning flares.

What Happened Over the Strait

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, laid out the engagement in blunt terms. The six IRGCN boats were approaching commercial vessels under U.S. escort when the order came to eliminate them. The Apaches struck first. Flying from expeditionary sea bases in the Persian Gulf, the twin-engine gunships used AGM-114 Hellfire missiles to disable the boats from standoff range. MH-60S Sea Hawks from nearby destroyers followed up, confirming kills and sweeping the area for survivors.

The entire engagement lasted less than thirty minutes. Iran denied any boats were sunk, but the IRGC later acknowledged that five personnel were killed in what it described as attacks on “two small cargo boats” — a characterisation rejected by CENTCOM. The strike happened just hours after Iran launched cruise missiles, drones, and additional small boats at U.S. warships attempting to shepherd two American-flagged commercial vessels through the strait. U.S. Navy destroyers intercepted all incoming threats.

Why the Strait Matters

The Strait of Hormuz is a 33-kilometre-wide bottleneck between Iran and Oman. Roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows through it every day. When Iran effectively blockaded it in early 2026, global energy markets convulsed.

The crisis began on February 28, 2026, when coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes hit Iranian military infrastructure. Tehran retaliated by restricting strait access using missiles, mines, drones, and maritime harassment — reducing shipping traffic to a trickle. Project Freedom is Washington’s response: a layered naval escort operation with more than 100 aircraft, guided-missile destroyers, unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members. Two U.S.-flagged commercial vessels have already transited under escort.

The Apache Goes to Sea

The AH-64 Apache is the U.S. Army’s premier attack helicopter — fast, heavily armed, and fitted with the Longbow radar that can identify and track 128 targets simultaneously. It was designed to destroy Soviet tanks on the plains of Central Europe. Using it to sink Iranian speedboats in the Persian Gulf is a reminder of how adaptable the platform has become. Army Apaches have operated from Navy ships before. Task Force Mustang flew AH-64Es from the USS Lewis B. Puller in the Gulf as recently as 2022. But this is the first confirmed combat engagement of Apaches against Iranian forces — a threshold that Washington had avoided for decades. The MH-60S Sea Hawk, meanwhile, is the Navy’s shipboard workhorse. Armed with Hellfire missiles, rockets, and door-mounted machine guns, it extends a destroyer’s defensive perimeter far beyond the horizon. In the confined waters of the Strait of Hormuz, that reach proved decisive.

Project Freedom — Then Paused

In a twist that stunned analysts, President Trump paused Project Freedom just 24 hours after its launch, citing “great progress toward a complete and final agreement” with Iran. The abrupt halt left two carrier strike groups, led by USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George H.W. Bush, still positioned in the Arabian Sea. Whether the pause signals genuine diplomacy or a tactical recalibration remains unclear. What is clear: the helicopters proved that the U.S. can enforce freedom of navigation in the strait with lethal precision when it chooses to. The six boats on the seabed are a message Tehran will struggle to ignore.

Sources: The War Zone, The Aviationist, Task and Purpose, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Stars and Stripes