US President Donald Trump made expletive-filled threats against Iran and its infrastructure if it doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz by his deadline, after American forces rescued a wounded aviator whose Iran-downed plane fell behind enemy lines.
A defiant Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighbouring Gulf Arab countries, challenged the US account of the rescue and threatened to restrict another heavily used waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Arabian Peninsula.
Trump on social media vowed to hit Iran’s power plants and bridges and said the country would be “living in Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for global trade, isn’t opened. He ended with “Praise be to Allah”.
Trump has issued such deadlines before but extended them when mediators have claimed progress toward ending the war, which has killed thousands, shaken global markets and spiked fuel prices in just over five weeks.
“It seems Trump has become a phenomenon that neither Iranians nor Americans are able to fully analyze,” Iranian Culture Minister Sayed Reza Salihi-Amiri told visiting Associated Press journalists in an interview in Tehran, adding that the president “constantly shifts between contradictory positions”.
Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets like oil fields and desalination plants critical for drinking water. Iran’s UN mission on social media called Trump’s threat “clear evidence of intent to commit war crime”.
Iran’s military joint command warned of stepped-up retaliatory attacks on regional oil and civilian infrastructure if the US and Israel attack such targets there, according to state television.
The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It’s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.
US describes a dramatic rescue
An intense search had followed Friday's (local time) crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle, while Iran promised a reward for the “enemy pilot”.
Trump said that the service member was “seriously wounded and really brave” and rescued from “deep inside the mountains" in an operation involving dozens of armed aircraft. He said a second crew member was rescued in “broad daylight” within hours of the crash.
A senior US administration official said that prior to locating the pilot, the CIA spread word inside Iran that US forces had found him and were moving him for exfiltration, confusing Iranian officials. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.
The fighter jet was the first known American aircraft to crash in Iranian territory since the US and Israel launched the war with strikes on Iran on February 28.
Iran also shot down another US military plane, demonstrating both the perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of Iran's degraded military to hit back. Neither the status of the A-10 attack aircraft's crew nor where it crashed is known.
On Sunday (local time), Iran’s state television aired a video showing what it claimed were parts of US aircraft shot down by Iranian forces. The broadcaster said that Iran had shot down a transport plane and two helicopters that were part of the rescue operation.
However, a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission told The Associated Press that the US military blew up two transport planes because of a technical malfunction and brought in additional aircraft to complete the rescue. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission.
Two Black Hawk helicopters were hit during the rescue but navigated to safe airspace, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.
Diplomatic efforts continue
Trump's deadline centres on alarm over Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, critical for global shipments of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf as well as humanitarian supplies. Some ships have paid Iran for passage.
An Iranian presidential spokesperson, Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Tabatabaei, said on social media that the strait can reopen only if some transit revenues compensate Iran for war damages.
A top Iranian adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, warned on social media that Tehran also could disrupt trade on the Bab el-Mandeb, a key chokepoint to and from the Red Sea.
Diplomatic efforts continued. Oman's Foreign Ministry said that deputy foreign ministers and experts from Iran and Oman met to discuss proposals to ensure “smooth transit” through the strait.
Egypt said that Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had spoken with US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and with Turkish and Pakistani counterparts. Russia said that Araghchi also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Bahrain urged the UN Security Council to act on its draft proposal with language authorizing defensive action to ensure safe passage through the strait.
Iran strikes Gulf targets
In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said that four people — one Nepali and three Pakistani — were hurt in fires caused by debris from the interception of an Iranian projectile at Khor Fakkan port, and interception debris caused fires at a petrochemical plant in Ruwais, halting operations.
In Kuwait, Iranian drone attacks caused significant damage to power plants and a petrochemical plant. They also put a water desalination station out of service, according to the Ministry of Electricity.
In Bahrain, a drone attack caused a fire at a national oil company storage facility and a state-run petrochemical plant, the kingdom’s official news agency said.
In Israel, rescue authorities searched for three people in the northern city of Haifa after an apartment building was hit. It wasn't immediately clear what struck it.
Meanwhile, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Lebanon, whose health ministry said an Israeli strike without warning killed four people in Beirut, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there while targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.
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.
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