Trump says pilots are fine after US helicopter crashes near Strait of
Hormuz
[June 09, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL and MICHELLE L. PRICE
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. Army helicopter crashed near
the Strait of Hormuz, but President Donald Trump said the two crew
members aboard were not injured in the incident near the strategic
waterway that Iran has effectively closed during the war.
What caused the crash remained unclear Tuesday morning in the Middle
East, which was still reeling after Iran and Israel exchanged fire the
previous day in the biggest blow yet to the straining ceasefire in the
Iran war. Iranian state media, relying on foreign reporting,
acknowledged the crash without elaborating.
Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has
shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and
made many basics, including food, more expensive. Officials have been
unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the
conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military
campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
Trump, speaking to journalists at John F. Kennedy International Airport
in New York after watching the NBA Finals on Monday night, acknowledged
the crash.
“The pilots are fine. Yeah,” Trump said. “Nobody injured. We are going
to issue a report tomorrow. But the pilots are fine.”
The New York Times first reported that a U.S. Army Apache attack
helicopter went down near the strait in unclear circumstances. The U.S.
military's Central Command and the Defense Department did not
immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Apache helicopters have been a key asset for the American military as it
enforces a blockade on Iranian crude oil shipments and tankers, seeking
to pressure Tehran into reaching a deal. The helicopters also have been
used by the United Arab Emirates to shoot down Iranian drones during the
Iran war.
Trump insists an Iran deal is coming
Trump also expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran.
“We have a good chance” of signing a deal in “two or three days," Trump
said. But he didn’t provide any details on why there was reason for new
optimism. Trump has repeatedly predicted that a deal is near over the
two months since the U.S. and Iran agreed to an initial ceasefire.
“We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,”
the president said. “If we go and bomb — which we could do very easily
if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing — they’ll
have nothing left whatsoever. But you won’t have the strait open for
months.”
He added: “If we do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are going to
be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t.”
Mediators, led predominantly by Pakistan, have been trying for weeks to
get a deal across the line. However, both Iran and the U.S. have taken
hard-line positions.
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President Donald Trump talks with reporters before boarding Air
Force One at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York,
early Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched
uranium, which is believed still to be entombed in the country after
American airstrikes in the 12-day war in 2025. But Iran is refusing
that and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release
of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place,
something rejected by Trump.
Before Trump’s comments on negotiations, Iranian parliament speaker
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Monday that Trump’s remarks so far on a
possible deal “contradicted the agreed-upon sections, showing that
(the U.S. is) neither seeking a ceasefire nor dialogue.”
The continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah remains a major
Iranian priority as well. Lebanon’s army chief, Gen. Rodolphe Haykal,
traveled to Pakistan on Tuesday. There, he met Pakistan’s army
chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been a key figure in the
Iran-U.S. talks.
Israel issues warning for Tyre, Lebanon
Meanwhile Tuesday, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning
for Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre, including the Christian
quarter, which has so far been spared in the destructive airstrikes
on the port city.
Last week, Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that it
believed Hezbollah members were among them. Many Lebanese Shiite
Muslims fled to those areas as Israeli strikes hammered the
Mediterranean coastal area over the past two weeks.
After last week’s warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the
Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks
there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area.
But Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language
spokesperson, posted on X on Monday that the Israeli military “will
have to act against their terrorist activities in the neighborhood
soon.”
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Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Will Weissert
in Washington, Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad
contributed to this report.
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