The US military is searching for a missing pilot shot down over a remote area in Iran, while president Donald Trump remained silent on the incident but reminded Tehran of his Monday deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz: “48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
The US warplane, identified by Iran as a F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued.
Iran has promised a reward for whoever turns in the missing pilot.
It's the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, which could further pressure Trump to end the fighting.
Iran's joint military command on Saturday claimed it also struck two US Black Hawk helicopters the day before, but Tte Associated Press could not independently verify that.
The war began with joint US-Israel strikes on February 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices.
It shows no signs of slowing as Iran responds with attacks across the region.
Trump earlier in the week said in a national address that the US has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.”
The US and Israel boasted that Iran’s air defenses were obliterated.
But on Saturday, an apparent Iranian drone damaged the headquarters of US technology company Oracle in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets and infrastructure in the war.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that an airstrike hit near its Bushehr nuclear facility, killing a security guard and damaging a support building.
It's the fourth time the facility was targeted. The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said that 198 workers were being evacuated.
World leaders are searching for ways to restore oil flows amid rare public criticism of the US president’s handling of the war with Iran. (Source: 1News)
Iran hunts for ‘enemy pilot’
The search for the US pilot focused on a mountainous region in Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released information, but in an email from the Pentagon, obtained by the AP, the military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without further details.
A US crew member was rescued. But the Pentagon notified the US House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member wasn't known.
In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump said that what happened wouldn't affect negotiations with Iran.
Separately, Iranian state media said a US A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iran's defense forces. A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said that it wasn't clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down. The crew's status was not immediately known.
An anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police, a first in the war. Iran previously made claims about shooting down piloted aircraft that turned out not to be true.
Oracle's offices hit in Dubai
The Dubai headquarters of Oracle was hit after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened the firm. Footage verified by the AP outside the UAE. showed a large hole in the building's southwestern corner.
The sheikhdom’s Dubai Media Office, which speaks for its government, noted a “minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade," saying there were no injuries.
Oracle, based in Austin, Texas, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Guard has accused some large US tech companies of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations against the Islamic Republic and called them legitimate targets. Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain were hit in earlier drone strikes.
Iran's veiled threat to disrupt second waterway
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, has issued a veiled threat to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab-el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32km wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.
“What share of global oil, LNG, wheat, rice, and fertilizer shipments transits the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait?” Qalibaf wrote, referring to liquefied natural gas. “Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?”
More than 1900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.
In Lebanon, more than 1400 people have been killed and there have been more than 1 million displaced people. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
Iran signals willingness to join talks
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told the AP that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track.”
Last week, Pakistan said that it would soon host talks between the US and Iran. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that they “have never refused to go to Islamabad.”
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt are working to bring the US and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.
They said that they were working on bridging the gap between the two sides' demands to stop the war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
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