US crew reported rescued after helicopter goes down near Strait of Hormuz, reports NYT

Washington, DC [US], June 9 (ANI): An aviation rescue operation successfully recovered a flight crew after a US military helicopter gunship went down near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report by The New York Times.

Attributing the information to two people briefed on the incident, the media outlet highlighted that the exact trigger behind the crash of the Apache attack helicopter remains unconfirmed.

The security development comes at a highly volatile moment for regional stability, occurring just as the fragile US-Iran ceasefire has become increasingly tenuous.

This regional volatility forms the backdrop against which US President Donald Trump has asserted that the United States will achieve “total victory” over Iran within the next fortnight. According to a CNN report, Trump expressed immense confidence that a fresh nuclear deal is well within reach.

This optimistic projection came just as Iran and Israel stepped back from a volatile weekend escalation of retaliatory military strikes.

The US President voiced these claims during a campaign tele-rally, which is a virtual phone event designed to address large groups of supporters remotely.

Trump utilised the political platform to generate momentum for Senator Lindsey Graham, who is currently facing a competitive challenge in an upcoming Republican primary election.

Maintaining that backroom diplomacy with Tehran was yielding significant results, Trump detailed the willingness of the other side to capitulate to Washington’s key strategic demands.

“We’re negotiating now, and they want to make a very good deal. They’re willing to give us everything, they’re willing to give us no nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

Linking the successful resolution of the geopolitical stand-off to domestic economic relief, the US President predicted an imminent breakthrough that would reshape global energy markets.

“I think we are winning that battle, but you’re really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory, it’ll be a total victory, it’ll happen very soon, and oil prices will come tumbling down,” he added.

These confident declarations from the US President coincided with a visible de-escalation between regional rivals Iran and Israel, who appeared to halt a sudden flurry of cross-border missile barrages that had erupted over the weekend.

Stepping back from the brink of an all-out war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Tel Aviv had terminated its military strikes against Iranian targets.

Netanyahu, however, stopped short of officially endorsing the formal ceasefire that Trump asserted both factions were actively pursuing.

Concurrently, Tehran implemented a matching suspension of its military operations directed at Israel.

The Iranian leadership, however, appended a stern caveat, warning that its forces would instantly restart offensive manoeuvres if Israeli forces persisted with air raids across southern Lebanon.

Despite the highly volatile security matrix and the sudden helicopter crash in the region, Iranian diplomatic channels indicated a clear openness to continuing direct engagements with Washington.

A senior Iranian official told CNN that Tehran had “no problem” moving forward with peace talks, provided it was confident the US side was acting in good and sincere faith.

However, scepticism regarding the actual timeline of these diplomatic breakthroughs was raised during a subsequent media appearance by the US President on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Trump was pressed on why Tehran had still not signed a formal agreement if the regime was in as precarious an economic and strategic position as the White House claimed.

Defending the pace of the ongoing negotiations, Trump attributed the delay to national pride rather than a lack of intent.

“Because they’re strong. They’re proud. There are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do. They’ve got no choice. And it takes a little while,” Trump said.

The current situation mirrors previous instances where the US President has deployed a strict fortnight deadline to benchmark diplomatic progress.

The preceding ceasefire, which was officially declared on April 7, was similarly introduced by the administration as a designated two-week window to permanently finalise a comprehensive treaty ending the hostilities. (ANI)

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