Drone boat rescued US pilots after army helicopter crashed near Strait of Hormuz

A drone boat rescued the crew of a US Army attack helicopter that crashed early on Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that Iran has effectively closed during the war, a US military official said.

A 24-foot unmanned boat located the two pilots and brought them to shore after they spent about two hours in the water, said Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command.

Military officials have not said what caused the Apache helicopter to go down. A military news release on the incident said it was under investigation.

The crash occurred with the Middle East still reeling after Iran and Israel exchanged fire the previous day in the biggest blow yet to the straining ceasefire in the Iran war.

Iranian state television reported on Tuesday that Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country’s air defence units.

Since the US and Israel began striking Iran on February 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive.

Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to end the conflict permanently, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.

US President Donald Trump acknowledged the crash while speaking to journalists at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York after watching the NBA Finals on Monday night.

“The pilots are fine. Yeah,” Mr Trump said. “Nobody injured. We are going to issue a report tomorrow. But the pilots are fine.”

The crash happened about 3.30am local time on Tuesday off the coast of Oman while the helicopter was on a patrol, the US military’s Central Command said.

AH-64 Apache helicopters have been a key asset for the American military as it enforces a blockade on Iranian crude oil shipments and tankers, seeking to pressure Tehran into a deal. The helicopters have also been used by the United Arab Emirates to shoot down Iranian drones.

The New York Times first reported on the crash.

If we do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t

Mr Trump also expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran.

“We have a good chance” of signing a deal in “two or three days”, the president said.

But he did not provide any details on why there was reason for new optimism.

“We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” Mr Trump said.

“If we go and bomb – which we could do very easily if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing – they’ll have nothing left whatsoever. But you won’t have the strait open for months.”

He added: “If we do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t.”

Mediators, led predominantly by Pakistan, have been trying for weeks to get a deal across the line.

However, both Iran and the US have taken hard-line positions.

The US wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed still to be entombed in the country after American air strikes in the 12-day war in 2025.

But Iran is refusing that and demanding relief from sanctions.

It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something rejected by Mr Trump.

Before Mr Trump’s comments on negotiations, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on Monday that Mr Trump’s remarks so far on a possible deal “contradicted the agreed-upon sections, showing that (the US is) neither seeking a ceasefire nor dialogue”.

The continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah remains a major Iranian priority as well.

Lebanon’s army chief, General Rodolphe Haykal, travelled to Pakistan on Tuesday. There, he met Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been a key figure in the Iran-US talks.

Mr Haykal’s visit comes as Lebanon’s government takes an increasingly hard line on Hezbollah, but remains unable to disarm the powerful militia.

Hezbollah thanked Iran on Tuesday for attacking Israel “in defence of our Lebanese people”, suggesting that the Lebanese government should take this opportunity to improve relations with Tehran.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, which has so far been spared in the destructive air strikes on the port city.

Last week, Israel warned the Christian neighbourhoods in Tyre that it believed Hezbollah members were among them.

Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas as Israeli strikes hammered the Mediterranean coastal area over the past two weeks.

After last week’s warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area.

But Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, posted on X on Monday that the Israeli military “will have to act against their terrorist activities in the neighbourhood soon”.

Christian religious leaders from Tyre called on the international community and Lebanese officials on Tuesday to act quickly to prevent Israel from attacking the Christian district of the city.

The statement by the Christian leaders was from George Iskandar, the metropolitan archbishop of Tyre for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church; Elias Kfoury, the Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Tyre, Sidon and Dependencies; and Charbel Abdullah, the archeparch of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre.

The three Christian leaders called on the international community and Lebanese leaders to “take immediate and serious action to spare the old quarter of Tyre from destruction and human tragedies.”

Considered one of the oldest metropolises of the world, Tyre has several archaeological sites, some of them submerged. The city was officially declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1984.

“The old city is not merely a residential area,” the clergy said in their statement. “It is the historical and human heart of Tyre, home to thousands of civilians, including families, children, and the elderly.

“Any targeting or destruction of this neighbourhood would constitute a humanitarian and national catastrophe with irreversible consequences,” they warned.