A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, and military officials are examining whether hostile fire from Iran caused the incident, according to two American officials and another source briefed on the matter.
Both crew members were pulled from the water around 7:30pm Eastern time, roughly two hours after the aircraft went down off Oman's coast, U.S. Central Command announced. They remain in stable condition and are receiving medical care.
President Trump confirmed the crew's safety to reporters, saying the pilots were unharmed. "Nobody injured. We are going to issue a report tomorrow. But the pilots are fine," he said, according to the Associated Press.
The rescue itself was dramatic. A source with direct knowledge of the incident described a grueling multi-hour search operation before responders located the downed helicopter and its occupants.
Determining what brought the Apache down will hinge partly on what the crew members reveal during their debriefing, one official said. Their firsthand account could prove critical in establishing whether the crash resulted from mechanical failure, pilot error, or enemy action.
The incident arrives at a precarious moment. In recent days, Israel and Iran exchanged military strikes, marking their first direct combat operations since an April ceasefire took hold. Trump has called on both nations to exercise restraint and avoid further escalation in the volatile region.
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world's most strategically sensitive waterways, with roughly one-fifth of global oil passing through annually. U.S. military activity in the area is routine but always subject to regional tensions.
Central Command did not immediately detail whether the helicopter had been engaged before impact or provide other specifics about the crash sequence. The two-hour window between the crash and rescue suggests rescue crews mobilized quickly once the aircraft's location was pinpointed.
Military officials said they would release additional findings as the investigation progresses.
Author James Rodriguez: "The fact that both pilots made it out alive changes the calculus here, but the core question of what shot them down, if anything, remains wide open and potentially combustible."
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