Two crew members rescued after military helicopter goes down near Strait of Hormuz, U.S. says

A U.S. military helicopter went down near the coast of Oman and its two crew members were rescued by unmanned boats — a first for the U.S. military — Central Command said Tuesday.

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A Task Force 59 unmanned surface vessel, essentially a drone boat, found and rescued the soldiers, spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins told NBC News.

Hawkins said both soldiers were receiving medical care.

In a separate statement on X, CENTCOM had said the soldiers had been rescued within around two hours of the incident and were in stable condition.

It said their U.S. Army AH-64 Apache was patrolling regional waters and that the cause of the incident was under investigation.

The confirmation came hours after President Donald Trump said that two crew members were “fine,” without sharing further details.

The incident was first reported by the New York Times, which said the helicopter had gone down over the Strait of Hormuz. Oman borders the strait.

Iranian media appeared to acknowledge the incident, with the semi-official Mehr News Agency reporting Tuesday that no claim of responsibility had been made by Iran. The Revolutionary Guard was yet to issue a statement.

Trump was speaking hours after Iran and Israel exchanged their first direct attacks since the April truce, threatening a return to all-out war in the Middle East.

The two adversaries later stepped away from the clash, with the price of oil falling and markets recovering amid the pause in fighting.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strait, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply normally crosses, since the U.S. and Israel launched the war.

Trump has vowed to restore traffic through the vital shipping lane as part of a deal to end the war.

Speaking Tuesday about a potential deal with Iran, he told reporters that, “We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape or form nuclear weapons.”

“The strait will open up right away. It’ll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days,” Trump said, though he said that the deal could even be done “in one hour, if you want to know the truth.”

Asked about the biggest sticking point in negotiations, Trump said he didn’t “think there are any sticking points.”

“I think we’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” he said, adding that an agreement would be preferable to and “actually stronger than doing the bombing.

Trump has repeatedly suggested the two sides are close to a deal in the weeks since they agreed to a ceasefire, but so far no agreement has materialized.

His latest positive comments followed the most serious threat yet to the negotiations.

Iran launched strikes on Israel late Sunday in response to an Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital Beirut over the weekend. Israel retaliated with its own aerial assault and the two sides exchanged strikes through Monday morning until stepping back.

Trump confirmed discussing the exchange in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We had a very good conversation and he was hit, and he hit back, and I can’t blame him for that,” Trump told reporters at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after watching the NBA Finals on Monday night.

“They both agreed, through me, to stop,” he said.

Still, Israel pushed forward Tuesday with its military action in Lebanon, issuing evacuation orders for the southern city of Tyre.

The Israel Defense Forces said the evacuation orders would include the city’s Christian Quarter, which has previously been excluded, citing what it said was the presence of Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in the area.