Two crew members were rescued unharmed after their helicopter went down near the strategic waterway; U.S. Central Command says they were picked up within about two hoursU.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter while it was patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz, adding that Washington would have to respond.“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”1 View gallery (Photo: Anna Moneymaker / AFP, CENTCOM)The U.S. military said the AH-64 Apache went down near the strait at around 3 a.m. Tuesday local time, 11 p.m. Monday GMT. U.S. Central Command said the two crew members were recovered within about two hours and were in stable condition.A U.S. Navy unmanned surface vessel operating in the area located the crew and rescued them from the water, U.S. officials said.Speaking later to reporters on the runway at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport before returning to Washington, Trump said the crew members were unharmed.“The pilots are fine,” he said. “Nobody injured.”The Apache crash comes amid heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes. The U.S. military has been using Apache helicopters, MQ-9 Reaper drones and F-35 fighter jets as part of its operations in the area.Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, considered a senior figure in Tehran’s negotiating team, warned on X: “We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages much more fluently. Violate your commitments and we will switch to what we speak best.”The Apache is the first such helicopter reported down during the current fighting. Iran has claimed during the war that it downed about 30 drones, while fighter jets have also been shot down over the Gulf.Last month, U.S. Central Command published images on its official social media accounts showing CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper flying over the Strait of Hormuz in an Apache during a short operation Trump called “Project Freedom.”