US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Iran had ​shot down a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz and vowed to respond, deepening doubts about prospects for peace ‌between the two countries. Two US pilots involved in the incident were uninjured, reported Reuters.

Trump said the two US pilots involved in the incident were uninjured. "Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack," he said on social media.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi did not directly address the incident, but said foreign forces in the region risked being involved in accidents or crossfire.

Araghchi has urged foreign forces to leave the Strait of Hormuz or be “at constant risk,” after US President Donald Trump accused Iran of downing an Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman, reported CNN.

"Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire," stated the Iranian minister on Tuesday in a post on X.

"To reduce risk, the best solution is for foreign forces to exit, as soon as possible, an environment which will never be hospitable to a hostile presence," he added.

The Iranian foreign minister added that while Tehran prefers “the language of diplomacy … as our brave warriors have shown to the world, we know how to speak other languages too,” echoing a similar statement earlier from Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

The foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz is not considered international waters but is shared by Iran and Oman. He vowed that Iran’s military is on constant alert for “any violation of Iran’s airspace, territory or territorial waters.”

Iranian media appeared to acknowledge the incident, with the semi-official Mehr News Agency reporting Tuesday that no claim of responsibility had been made by Iran. The Revolutionary Guard was yet to issue a statement.

Meanwhile NBC News reported that Trump is keen to keep the US forces here for as long as the situation demands.

The US President said he will not be sending troops back to the US because they may still be needed. "But I think we’ll keep them there until such time as we have a completion."

Trump’s comments came after Iran and Israel exchanged their first direct attacks since the April truce, threatening a return to all-out war in the Middle East.

The two adversaries later stepped away from the clash, with the price of oil falling and markets recovering amid the pause in fighting, stated the report.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strait, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply normally crosses, since the US and Israel launched the war, it added.