Tel Aviv | The US military pressed ahead Saturday in a frantic search for a missing pilot over a remote area in Iran, a day after the Islamic Republic shot down a US warplane and promised a reward for whoever turns in the pilot.
The plane, identified by Iran as a F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked Friday, with one service member rescued. It was the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could add pressure on the Trump administration to end the fighting.
The war, which began with joint US-Israel strikes on Feb 28, has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. It shows no signs of slowing as Iran responds to airstrikes with attacks across the region.
The downing of the American planes came two days after US President Donald Trump said in a national address that the United States has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.” The US and Israel had boasted that Iran's air defences 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 Organisation 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 has been targeted. The head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said that 198 workers were being evacuated.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that they “have never refused to go to Islamabad.” Last week, Pakistan said that it would soon host talks between the US and Iran.
The UN Security Council is expected to take up the matter of reopening the strait on Saturday. And Trump reminded Iran of his Monday deadline to open the strait or make a deal, warning on his social media platform, Truth Social, of “48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
The search for the US pilot focused on a mountainous region in Iran's southwestern provincemountainous 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 “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle EastAP, 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 its 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.
An apparent Iranian drone damaged the Dubai headquarters of Oracle after Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened the firm. Footage verified by the AP outside the United Arab Emirates 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 Corp, based in Austin, Texas, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Guard has accused some of the largest U.S. 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 parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab-el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32 kilometres (20 miles) 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 1,900 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 1,400 people have been killed and there have been more than 1 million displaced people. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
Dubai | In a briefing Saturday, Iran's joint military command spokesperson said it hit other enemy targets Friday, including the two helicopters.
The AP could not independently verify the claims. Some media outlets in the US have reported the helicopters were hit.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari said in a statement carried by state media that it “must be called a black and humiliating Friday for the American and Zionist enemies.”
Iran had claimed the downing of two American warplanes Friday.
On Saturday, the US military was pressing ahead with its search for a missing pilot over a remote area in southwestern Iran.
