An Apache helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz.

• A US Army ‌Apache helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz.
• Both pilots are uninjured, said US President Donald Trump.
• Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said that they would ban Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea.

US President Donald Trump said early on Tuesday that the pilots of a US Army ‌Apache helicopter that went down near the Strait of Hormuz “are fine”.

Speaking on the runway at John F Kennedy International Airport before returning to Washington, DC, Trump ⁠said there was “nobody injured”.

The administration would issue a report later on Tuesday, he added.

The New York Times reported late on Monday that a US Army Apache helicopter gunship went down near the Strait of Hormuz and its two crew ‌members ⁠were safely rescued, citing two people briefed on the incident.

It was not immediately clear whether the Apache was shot down by Iranian ⁠fire, experienced mechanical failure, or encountered some other problem, the report said.

READ | Israel strikes on Iran send a message to Trump: It demands a seat at the negotiating table

The US Department of State ⁠and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ⁠Reuters.

In a further escalation of tension in the Middle East, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday that they would ban Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea, adding to challenges for global shipping through the Middle East during the Iran war.

The group said in a statement it had launched an attack on Israel and enacted a total ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea.

Any Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping would worry energy markets more than three months into Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with the war reigniting overnight.

The Red Sea, leading to the Suez Canal, is a crucial shipping lane in its own right, and during the Iran war has become the main alternative outlet for millions of barrels per day of Middle East oil sent by pipeline, bypassing the Gulf.

The Houthis disrupted shipping from 2023 to 2025 out of what they said was solidarity with the Palestinians, but had so far largely stayed ⁠out of the wider Middle East war that began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran in February this year.

A Houthi source told Reuters that preventing Israeli ships from transiting the Red Sea was a first step, and that further escalation could lead it to stop the passage of any ships bound for Israel, as well as other measures.

The announcement did not amount to a ban on all commercial shipping in the Red Sea and was instead “directed at vessels assessed by the Houthis as Israeli-affiliated”, British maritime risk management group Vanguard said on Monday in a note.

“Given the broad wording used, vessels operating in the region should maintain heightened vigilance and conduct enhanced affiliation screening.”

Shipping sources said the action could cause a wider impact, because the Houthis have targeted ships in the past with no direct links with Israel.

“The announcement... will cause every ship to think carefully about the wisdom ‌of making ⁠a transit,” one source said.

“The Houthis don’t have a good record of determining which ships have ‘links’ to Israel, so it’s probably better to go around Africa, pay the fuel bill, and benefit from lower war risk insurance costs.”

Red Sea war risk insurance rates were unchanged on Monday at around 0.3% of the value of a ship, with little movement in recent weeks, an insurance industry source said.

The rates are reviewed every 24 hours, so levels could change rapidly, the source ⁠added.