A US Army Apache helicopter flying over the Strait of Hormuz crashed — before President Trump raised fresh hope of a US-Iran peace deal, claiming Washington will be able to declare “total victory” in two weeks.
The helicopter gunship pilots were rescued Monday – and President Trump told reporters on the ground at JFK Airport they were “fine.”
“Nobody injured. We are going to issue a report tomorrow,” Trump said.
It’s not clear if the Apache was shot down or experienced a mechanical issue, the New York Times reported.
Trump told reporters on the tarmac that the US and Iran are close to agreeing a peace deal – more than three months after the US-Israel attacks on Tehran started.
“If we go and bomb, which we can do very easily if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing, they’ll have nothing left whatsoever,” Trump, who was in New York watching the New York Knicks lose to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, said.
“But you won’t have the strait open for months,” he said. “If we do the bombing, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t.”
He told a tele-rally just hours before that the US will be able to declare “total victory” in two weeks.
“You’re really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory. It will be a total victory and it will happen very soon.”
Trump’s bullish comments come days after the most direct confrontation between Iran and Israel since the cease-fire came into force 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.
Trump called on the Middle Eastern enemies to lay down the weapons, ordering the two countries to “stop shooting.”
Iran’s joint military command then said it was halting offensive operations against Israel — but issued a blistering warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The joint command warned that if Israel or its allies carried out any further “aggression and hostile acts,” including against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, “much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow.”
With Post wires
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