President Donald Trump revealed Tuesday that Iran shot down a US Army Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz and that the United States would respond.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the military had informed him that Iranian forces downed the AH-64 Apache as it patrolled over the strait the previous night. He said both pilots were safe and uninjured but declared that the United States “must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” without specifying what form a response would take.

The post recast an incident that US officials had, hours earlier, described as a crash of unclear cause. The New York Times first reported that the Apache went down near the coast of Oman on Monday night, and US Central Command said the cause was under investigation. A Navy surface drone located and rescued the two crew members within about two hours, a CENTCOM spokesperson told Reuters, and both were in stable condition.

Speaking to reporters at New York’s Kennedy airport late Monday after attending an NBA Finals game, Trump said the pilots were fine and that an incident report would follow Tuesday. Iranian state media had acknowledged the crash without elaborating, and Iran had not publicly claimed responsibility.

It was the first reported loss of an Apache in the war. The attack helicopters have been central to the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, used to help bar tankers carrying Iranian crude from transiting the waterway.

The accusation injects fresh uncertainty into a diplomatic track that had appeared to be accelerating. Trump said Monday that Washington and Tehran were “in the final throes” of an agreement and that a deal was perhaps “two or three days” away, with the strait reopening upon signing. Vice President JD Vance, in a Fox News interview, called the emerging deal a “home run for the American people,” whether or not Israel approved. The president has repeatedly forecast an imminent agreement; by one tally, he has said a deal was near 38 times since March.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)