WASHINGTON, June 9 -- The helicopter had been down for hours before Donald Trump said out loud what the military was not yet willing to confirm. Iran shot it down. And now the United States, he announced Tuesday morning, must respond.

"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack."

He did not say how. And that silence, measured against everything else he said in the hours surrounding that post, suggests a president caught between two vers...