Washington, United States. United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran had shot down a US Apache helicopter patrolling the Strait of Hormuz overnight and said the United States would respond. The incident added to uncertainty over prospects for a truce announced in April in the war in the Gulf.
Trump says US will respond
Trump said in a social media post that he had been informed by the US military that Iran had shot down one of its Apache helicopters while it was patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz.
He said the two US pilots involved were safe and uninjured and added that the United States must respond to the attack.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said the two pilots were “fine” following their rescue, but did not comment on what caused the helicopter to go down.
US military details rescue
A US Navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew members, the US military told Reuters.
US Central Command said the AH-64 Apache went down at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, or 2300 GMT on Monday.
Impact on truce efforts
The episode added further strain to efforts to broker a peace deal to end the wider Middle East war and reopen Hormuz, a vital route for international trade in energy and other commodities.
On Monday, Israel and Iran said they would halt attacks on each other after an appeal by Trump to end their first direct exchanges of fire since April.
Tehran warned that it would resume hostilities if Israel continued to attack its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Regional developments
Israel struck Lebanon’s port city of Tyre, killing eight people.
In Tehran, Iran’s military said two Iranian air defence personnel killed in Israeli strikes on Monday were due to be buried on Tuesday afternoon.
No deaths were reported in Israel after the Iranian strikes.
