By Todd Symons, Kathleen Magramo and Zachary Cohen

(CNN) — President Donald Trump said the US must respond after Iran brought down an Army Apache helicopter, whose crew members were safely rescued.

Trump posted on social media Tuesday afternoon that the US military informed him Iran shot down the helicopter, which was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Oman.

“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” he said.

Two US officials said the helicopter was brought down by an Iranian drone. A separate source familiar with the incident said it was an Iranian Shahed drone that struck the US helicopter. One of the US officials said that it was unclear whether the drone had targeted the Apache intentionally or if it was an inadvertent takedown.

A US uncrewed drone boat rescued the two crew members, the US military said earlier Tuesday.

The incident marked the first loss of an Apache since the conflict with Iran began. It comes after hostilities in the region escalated over the weekend, with Iran and Israel exchanging their first direct strikes in months.

“The Soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition,” US Central Command, the military branch responsible for operations in the Middle East, said in a post on X. “The cause of the incident is under investigation.”

Trump commented on the incident overnight, saying that “the pilots are fine.”

Capt. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said a US Navy drone vessel, called a surface drone, found and rescued the crew. The drone picked them up and transported them to another location on the water where the crew was hoisted up to a helicopter.

It was part of Task Force 59, which was launched in 2021 and includes uncrewed vessels and drones. It’s the first Navy task force of its kind.

The drone boat that assisted in the rescue “was a U.S. Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel,” according to Hawkins. The US Navy task force began deploying it in late March.

The New York Times was first to report that a US Army Apache helicopter went down near the strait on Monday and that two crew members had to be rescued.

Apache helicopters are primarily used for precision strikes, close air support and air reconnaissance, according to the Central Command website. The helicopters have previously been used to attack Iranian small boats as part of the US blockade of Iranian ports.

The US military has lost dozens of aircraft –– including at least five fighter jets, seven Stratotanker refueling aircraft, a search-and-rescue helicopter and more than two dozen drones –– since the war with Iran began in late February, according to a Congressional Research Service report issued in May.

In early April, the US military had to launch a risky operation to rescue one of the pilots of a F-15E Strike Eagle that was shot down inside Iran. The military had to blow up two of its special operations aircraft on the ground in Iran during the covert mission, which involved hundreds of American military and intelligence personnel, including Special Operations forces.

In March, a KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq, killing all six crew members onboard. Days earlier, three US F-15 fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, with all crew members ejecting safely.

A number of aircraft were damaged in Iranian strikes on a US airbase in Saudi Arabia, while other aircraft sustained damage after coming under Iranian fire while they were in the air.

This story and headline have been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
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