Four US Army special operations soldiers were presumed killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed this week during a routine training exercise in a remote area of Washington state near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the Army said on Friday.

The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk went down at about 9pm PDT on Wednesday in rugged terrain near the base, located about 15 miles southeast of Tacoma, Washington, according to Jacqui Hill, spokesperson for the US Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

No survivors were found among the four personnel who were aboard the aircraft, all members of the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, 4th Battalion, assigned to Lewis-McChord, she said.

Dubbed “Night Stalkers,” this airborne unit is known for its expertise in conducting operations under the cover of darkness and for pioneering the Army’s nighttime flying tactics.

“They were elite warriors who embodied our highest values of the Army and the Army Special Operations, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Lieutenant General Jonathan Braga said of the four fallen soldiers in a statement.

Hill said efforts to reach the accident site were complicated by the remote location, fire from the crash and thick vegetation, and that recovery operations were continuing on Friday.

Pakistan has extended its airspace ban for all Indian-registered and Indian-operated aircraft, including military planes, for another month, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said on Friday.

According to a new NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), the restriction bars Indian commercial airlines, India-registered aircraft, and military flights from entering Pakistani airspace.

Pakistan closed its airspace for Indian airlines in a tit-for-tat move after New Delhi suspended the critical Indus Water Treaty amid heightened bilateral tensions following the deadly Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Following Pakistan’s decision, India shut its airspace to Pakistani airlines on April 30. Pakistan’s initial restriction was extended on May 23 for another month.

The latest extension brings the total duration of Pakistan’s airspace closure for Indian aircraft to 210 days.

On May 6-7, India launched unprovoked attacks on multiple Pakistani cities.

In response, Pakistan’s armed forces launched a large-scale retaliatory military action, named “Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos”, and targeted several Indian military targets across multiple regions.

The strikes, described by officials as “precise and proportionate”, were carried out in response to India’s continued aggression across the Line of Control (LoC) and within Pakistan’s territory, which New Delhi claimed were aimed at “terrorist targets”.

Pakistan downed its six fighter jets, including three Rafale, and dozens of drones. After at least 87 hours, the war between the two nuclear-armed nations ended on May 10 with a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.

While India’s aviation industry has faced heavy losses, the impact on Pakistani aviation has been minimal.

This is not the first time Pakistan has imposed such restrictions. Airspace closures were previously enacted during the 1999 Kargil conflict and the 2019 Pulwama crisis, both instances in which India faced greater aviation disruptions than Pakistan.

• Britain, France, Germany offer delay if Iran meets conditions.
• US open to diplomacy despite voting against resolution.
• Iran’s allies propose six-month extension for negotiations.
  

The United Nations Security Council did not adopt a draft resolution on Friday to permanently lift sanctions on Iran, but Tehran and key European powers still have eight days to try and agree to a delay.

The 15-member UN Security Council was required to vote on the draft resolution on Friday after Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process on August 28 to reimpose UN sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies having any such intention.

Russia, China, Pakistan and Algeria voted in favour of the draft text on Friday. Nine members voted against, and two abstained.

The Security Council vote has now set up a week of intense diplomacy while world leaders — including Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian — are in New York for the annual high-level UN General Assembly.

Iran says vote outcome ‘weakens diplomacy’

“The door for diplomacy is not closed, but it will be Iran, not adversaries, who decide with whom and on what basis to engage,” Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters after the vote.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will meet with his European counterparts in New York next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, he said, adding that Friday’s divided vote showed there was “no consensus in the council”.

“This decision weakens diplomacy and risks dangerous consequences for non-proliferation,” Iravani said.

Britain, France and Germany have offered to delay reinstating sanctions for up to six months — to allow space for talks on a long-term deal on Tehran’s nuclear program — if Iran restores access for UN nuclear inspectors, addresses concerns about its stock of enriched uranium, and engages in talks with the United States.

“Without these most basic conditions being met, there is no clear path to a swift diplomatic solution,” Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council. “We are ready for further engagements, diplomatically, in the next week, and beyond, to seek to resolve differences.”

Any delay in reimposing sanctions would require a Security Council resolution. If a deal on an extension can’t be reached by the end of September 27, then all UN sanctions will be reimposed.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the move by the “E3” group of Britain, France and Germany to reimpose sanctions on Tehran as “illegal, unjustified and provocative,” saying it “gravely” undermined diplomatic efforts.

US remains ready to engage, says envoy

Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said that while the US voted “no” on Friday, it “does not impede the possibility of real diplomacy”, adding that a return of sanctions on Iran “does not preclude later removal through diplomacy”.

“More importantly, President Trump has continued to reiterate the United States’ ongoing readiness for meaningful, direct, and timebound dialogue with Iran — be it prior to the conclusion of the snapback process on September 27, or after,” she told the council.

French UN Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said that since the 30-day process — known as snapback —was triggered, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain had met twice with their Iranian counterpart.

“Our hand remains outstretched to find a negotiated solution,” he told the council before the vote.

Separately, Iran’s strategic allies Russia and China finalised a draft Security Council resolution late last month that would extend the 2015 deal for six months and urge all parties to immediately resume negotiations. But they have not yet asked for a vote.

Russia and China, which are also parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, have both rejected the Europeans’ bid to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran.

China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong said the attempt to trigger snapback was “detrimental to the diplomatic effort towards an early resumption of talks, and may even bring about catastrophic consequences that are impossible to foresee and forfeit years of diplomatic efforts in one stroke”.