U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that two crew members had been rescued by American forces after an AH-64 Apache went down near the coast of Oman.
The operation occurred at 7.33 p.m. ET Monday and was led by the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the 82nd airborne division.
The soldiers, who had been “patrolling regional waters,” were rescued within around two hours and are in stable condition.
It remains unclear if the helicopter fell victim to a mechanical failure or if it was shot down by Iranian forces. CENTCOM said the “cause of the incident is under investigation.”
U.S. military officials reportedly told Reuters that the crew members were rescued by a sea drone in the first operation of its kind.
TIME has reached out to CENTCOM and the Pentagon for further information.
President Donald Trump had confirmed earlier on Tuesday that “the pilots are fine” and that “nobody was injured” when asked about reports of the incident as he departed New York after attending the Knicks game. Trump said a report with further details will follow later in the day.
The attempt to restore the free flow of naval navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is ongoing.
The crucial passage between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which around a fifth of global oil production flows, largely remains under Iran’s choke hold, and has prompted worldwide price jolts for oil and gas.
The U.S. launched its own naval blockade targeting Iranian ports and associated vessels in the waterway in an effort to reopen the vital trade route.
But the tussle over the narrow trade route remains a key stumbling block in the drawn-out peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
The U.S. has lost a number of different aircraft since the start of the Iran War on Feb. 28.
In March, three U.S. F-15E fighter jets went down following a friendly fire incident involving Kuwaiti air defenses. Another incident saw six crew members killed when a U.S. refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq.
In April, a two-person F-15E fighter jet crashedinside Iran. One of the crew members was rescued swiftly, but a high-stakes search operation had to be conducted for the second airman.
After nearly 48 hours, the pilot was rescued. Trump referred to it as “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history.”
A number of other aircraft, including drones, have also been lost and damaged during the conflict, according to a Congressional research report from May 13.
Iran and Israel halt attacks on each other, but both issue warnings that fire could resume
A renewal of fresh hostilities between Iran and Israel threatened to derail peace deal negotiations at the start of the week.
Over the weekend and into the early hours of Monday, the two countries exchanged the worst fire seen since the fragile cease-fire came into play in April.
After Trump demanded that both sides “immediately stop shooting,” the countries retreated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday afternoon said his country would hold off on further strikes against Iran, providing the fire is contained on both sides. If “Iran makes the mistake of resuming attacks on us, we will respond with overwhelming force,” he said in a televised address, emphasizing Israel’s right to “self-defense.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also confirmed the halt of active fire, but threatened that if Israel continues its attacks, including in Lebanon, “much harsher and more crushing actions than before will be on the way.”
Israel continues to trade strikes with Hezbollah—the Lebanese militant group that last week rejected a cease-fire proposal agreed upon by Israel and Lebanon after U.S.-led negotiations.
The parallel war between Israel and Hezbollah is gravely complicating the progress of U.S.-Iran peace talks, as Tehran has maintained its position that any cease-fire with the U.S. must include the halt of Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
Trump warns Netanyahu
Israel’s recent exchange with Iran and the continued operations against Hezbollah have put significant strain on the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu.
In an interview published Monday, the President told Axios he had informed the Israeli Prime Minister that should he go back to war with Iran, he might find himself fighting the conflict alone.
Speaking to the BBC after both Israel and Iran halted their strikes, the President claimed: “If I tell him [Netanyahu] to do something he does it.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched strikes on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Beirut over the weekend. Iran responded by launching strikes at Israel and flurried exchanges of fire soon followed.
Israel struck a petrochemical plant in Mahshahr, southwestern Iran, that it said was “used by the armed forces of the Iranian terror regime to produce and export raw materials for weapons production.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had retaliated by launching strikes on a petrochemical plant in Haifa, northern Israel, according to a statement delivered by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Reports stating that Trump had told Netanyahu not to retaliateafter Iran struck, and then the subsequent Israeli strikes, appeared to suggest that the Israeli Prime Minister had defied Trump’s wishes.
But Trump pushed back against this assessment early Tuesday.
When asked by reporters in New York if he had made the request to Netanyahu, he replied: “No, I said do what’s right, but I want you to stop as quickly as you can, because they have to stop.”
“[Netanyahu] was hit and he hit back, and I can’t blame him for that,” the President continued. “He hit back and now they’ve called it quits.”
Trump and Netanyahu shared a heated phone call last week over Israel’s initial plans to strike Beirut.
“I wouldn’t say angry, I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump remarked when asked about the call.
What is the status of the U.S.-Iran peace deal talks?
Progress towards a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran is still being made, according to the President, but a firm timeline has yet to be established.
“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 etc., and the Strait [of Hormuz] will open up straight away,” said Trump early Tuesday. “It will open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.”
Iran’s nuclear ambitions have proved to be a key stumbling block throughout ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
The U.S. has insisted that Iran cannot possess any nuclear weapon, and that any enriched uranium belonging to Tehran must be destroyed.
Iranian officials have argued that they must maintain some mechanism of control over the Strait of Hormuz—a notion Washington and many global entities are against.
Iran has not yet responded to Trump’s most recent claim of progress in negotiations.
Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, on Monday said the peace deal talks between Washington and Tehran are taking place amid a backdrop off extreme suspicion, according to a statement carried by semi-official Fars news agency.
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