The Cheapest Shot in the Gulf War — and the Peace Deal It May Have Triggered
By Kristoffer Hell, kristoffer@orbitdigest.com

Iranian Shaheed drone - game changer in the 2026 US-Iran war?
By Fars Media Corporation, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76415516
Here is the gist of the 14-point plan for peace between the US and Iran.
- Permanent ceasefire
- Respect sovereignty
- Reach a final deal in 60 days
- Lift the naval blockade
- Reopen the Strait of Hormuz
- Fund Iran's reconstruction
- End sanctions
- Prevent nuclear weapons development
- Maintain the status quo during talks
- Allow Iranian oil exports
- Release frozen Iranian assets
- Establish compliance monitoring
- Implement key confidence-building measures first
- Ceasefire (#1)
- Lift the naval blockade (#4)
- Reopen the Strait of Hormuz (#5)
- Allow Iranian oil exports (#10)
- Release Iran's frozen assets (#11)
- Obtain UN Security Council endorsement
Paragraph 13 depends primarily on the US and Iran — giving Israel and Hezbollah fewer levers to upset the process.
It is still not confirmed what prompted the US and Iran to so quickly come to an agreement, especially one so generous toward Iran: oil exports, asset releases, sanctions relief, reconstruction funding.
Why now?
The week leading up to the deal there were several cycles of military action–reaction.
- Iran shot down a US Apache helicopter using a one-way attack drone.
- Trump ordered new US strikes inside Iran on June 9–10 in response.
- Iran launched retaliatory attacks beyond Iran itself, against US partners in the Gulf region.
- Reports of Iran planning a large missile strike on Israel, but which was cancelled.
The cost of one Apache helicopter, used to enforce the naval blockade is about 40 million US dollars. The cost for the Shaheed drone that knocked it out is estimated to be some 35,000 US dollars.
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