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US president Donald Trump said the two pilots in the helicopter are ‘fine’
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The US military has given an update after an Apache helicopter has crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, hours after hostilities in the region escalated with Iran and Israel exchanging their first direct strikes in two months.
Centcom said a navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew from the waters of the Strait of Hormuz, Centcom said on Tuesday.
The pair were rescued within about two hours and were in stable condition. Donald Trump earlier said they are “fine”.
The helicopters, which cost around $35 million to $40 million, have been used by the U.S. military to police a blockade of Iranian ports near the strait, as part of its large military presence in the region.
Apache aircraft have been previously used to attack Iranian small boats – but the U.S. military has not said whether the helicopter was shot down by Iranian fire, experienced mechanical failure or encountered some other problem.
Meanwhile, Israel has killed eight people in fresh attacks on southern Lebanon, officials said, despite Donald Trump’s pleas for it to rein in strikes on Iran and Lebanon.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is rising “very meaningfully”.
“I would say rising very meaningfully,” he said today when asked how ship traffic is flowing through the Strait compared to a week or two ago.
Wright made the remarks during an Atlantic Council conference and added that it would take many months to get back to normal flows of energy once the war is over.
Vessel movements on the strait have been largely blocked February, interrupting around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
But some vessels have since begun transiting the narrow waterway bordering Iran, often with transponders turned off and under cover of darkness.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem says the ‘shelter in place’ order for US government employees and their family members has ended.
Criminals who commit arson and criminal damage on behalf of state-linked proxies will face up to 14 years behind bars under tough new laws.
New powers proposed in the State Threats Bill will allow ministers to list organisations they believe are front groups for hostile foreign states, such as Iran or Russia. Anyone then found to be assisting or receiving payment from these groups will face longer behind bars if they are convicted.
A new offence of supporting hostile proxy groups will also be created if the bill, presented to parliament today, is approved. Ministers hope the tough powers will act as a deterrent to lower-level criminals, many of whom are teenagers, who are being commissioned by state-linked proxies to carry out acts of intimidation and vandalism.
Iran’s football federation (FFIRI) have claimed that its ticket allocation for the World Cup has been pulled just days before football’s global showpiece kicks off.
This leaves supporters who had already made travel plans unable to attend their team’s matches, with the FFIRI calling it a decision “to sabotage the presence of Iranian fans” at the tournament.
“This is despite the fact that many Iranian football fans, relying on the officially announced process, had already made the necessary plans to attend the matches,” it added in a statement.
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We can bring you more from UN chief Antonio Guterres, who said Israel should open crossings it has closed into Gaza to allow for the flow of humanitarian aid.
“I’m also deeply concerned by Israel’s decision to close crossings into Gaza & reiterate my call for the immediate reopening of all crossings to ensure the rapid, safe & unhindered passage of humanitarian assistance at scale throughout Gaza,” he said.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in place since October 2025 that includes guarantees of increased aid.
Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce. Israeli strikes have killed more than 950 people since the truce, health officials say, while Israel says four soldiers were killed by militants during the same period.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed” by a renewed escalation of violence in the Middle East and called on Israel to reopen crossings into Gaza.
“All attacks must stop immediately. The ceasefires in Lebanon, Iran & Gaza must be fully respected,” he said in a post on X.
Israel struck targets in Iran on Monday for the first time since a ceasefire in April, after Iran fired missiles at Israel in what Tehran said was retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s capital.
Israel and Iran both called a halt to the exchange on Monday shortly after Trump told them to stop shooting, although they each left the door open to a possible resumption.
The most direct confrontation between the two countries since April threatened to wreck Washington’s efforts to reach an agreement with Tehran to end their more than 3-month-old war.
The Israeli military has said it received a report about gunfire being directed at its forces in the Ramim Ridge area of northern Israel.
It said in a statement that its soldiers returned fire and eliminated someone in the area, who it described as a “terrorist”.
It said no Israeli soldiers had been wounded in the incident, which was ongoing, with troops conducting searches of the area supported by the air force.
For more than two years, hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza and Lebanon have lived in dread of Avichay Adraee’s next social media post.
Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesman has been the animated face of its campaigns and the main source of warnings ahead of strikes and major offensives. That has made him one of the most recognizable Israelis in the Arab world and a focus of fury as well as some fascination.
In social media videos shared to his 2.5 million followers across platforms, the colonel appears in military fatigues, gesticulating as he delivers official statements and mocks Israel’s enemies, often using satire or pop culture references, all in fluent Arabic.
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China’s exports picked up pace in May, rising 19.4 per cent from a year earlier, its customs agency said today, as technology-related shipments remained robust despite impacts from the Iran war.
The stronger-than-expected performance was an improvement from April’s 14.1 per cent year-on-year increase.
Imports in May jumped 27.4 per cent, also at a faster pace compared with April’s 25.3 per cent year-on-year expansion.
Exports to the US in May surged more than 35 per cent from the year before, after an 11 per cent increase in April.
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