Trump says US helicopter pilots who went down in Strait of Hormuz are fine

(Reuters)

DUBAI/JERUSALEM, June 9 – Two U.S. pilots whose helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz “are fine”, President Donald Trump said on ​Tuesday after the New York Times reported the crew of an Apache gunship had been rescued after the aircraft went down ‌near the Iran-controlled waterway.

It was not immediately clear whether the Apache was shot down by Iranian fire, experienced mechanical failure or encountered some other problem, the report said.

The White House, U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Asked if he knew what brought the helicopter down, Trump said they ​would issue a report later on Tuesday.

“The pilots are fine,” Trump said, speaking on the runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport before ​returning to Washington, D.C. “Nobody injured.”

The incident happened a day after Iran and Israel said they had halted attacks on ⁠each other following an appeal from Trump, though Tehran warned it would resume hostilities if Israel continued to hit Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The resumption of the tenuous ​ceasefire comes as Washington tries to reach an agreement with Tehran to end their more than three-month-old war.

Trump also told reporters he could have “an idea” for an ​Iran deal within a few days, without elaborating. The Republican president, struggling with record low approval ratings ahead of November midterm elections, has often hinted at an imminent deal with Tehran, but none has yet eventuated.

The weekend saw the most direct confrontation between Iran and Israel since a ceasefire in April.

Tehran had fired missiles towards Israeli territory late on ​Sunday, calling the strikes retaliation for attacks on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia on the outskirts of Beirut.

Israel then hit Iranian air defence systems and a petrochemical plant ​that it said was used to produce ballistic missiles. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it retaliated with a strike aimed at a similar Israeli plant in the city ‌of Haifa.