Trump Gives Iran 48 Hours To Open Strait Of Hormuz As Search Continues For Missing U.S. Pilot

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The U.S. military searched for a second day for a pilot shot down in a remote part of Iran. US President Donald Trump On Saturday, he once again threatened Tehran about the deadline set for Monday to open the Strait of Hormuz: “Time is running out.”

American warplane identified by Iran as F-15E Strike Eagle One in two people was attacked on Friday. Iran promised a reward to the person who surrendered the “enemy pilot”. Iran’s joint military command said Saturday that two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were also shot down on Friday, but The Associated Press could not independently confirm this.

WarThe attack, which is in its sixth week, began with joint US-Israeli attacks on February 28 and left thousands dead and shaken. global marketscut off important shipping routes and Fuel prices have increased. This shows no signs of slowing down as Iran responds with attacks across the region.

“We will continue to crush them,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. The Israeli military confirmed it hit a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr that Netanyahu said was helping finance the war. Five people were killed, Iranian state media reported, citing a state security official.

Trump said a national address He said on Wednesday that the United States had “defeated and completely destroyed Iran.” However, on Saturday, a drone, apparently belonging to Iran, damaged the headquarters of the US technology company Oracle in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Both sides threatened and struck civilian targets and infrastructure; possible war crimes.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said a security guard was killed and a support building was damaged in an airstrike near the Bushehr nuclear facility. The head of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom said 198 workers were evacuated. This was the fourth time the facility was targeted.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi told the AP that his government’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire were “on the right track.” Last week Pakistan said: will host talks soon Between the USA and Iran.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iranian officials “never refused to go to Islamabad.”

Mediators from Pakistan, Türkiye and Egypt were working to bring the United States and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials. They said they were working to close the gap between the two sides’ demands to stop the war and reopen it. Important Strait of Hormuz.

The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow for a diplomatic solution, according to a regional official involved in the effort and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.

In a social media post, Trump reminded Iran of its deadline: “Remember I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN THE THROAT OF HORUZ. Time is running out; 48 hours until all Hell comes down on them.”

The search for the US pilot focused on a mountainous area in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces in southwestern Iran. An announcer on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television called on locals to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the police.

In an email from the Pentagon obtained by the AP, the military said it had received notification that “an aircraft had been shot down” in the Middle East.

A US crew member was rescued. The Pentagon told the US House Armed Services Committee that the condition of a second soldier was unknown.

Trump told NBC News that what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.

A second U.S. Air Force fighter jet was shot down in the Middle East on Friday, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation. It is not yet known whether the plane crashed, was shot down, or whether Iran was involved in the incident.

Iranian state media reported that a US A-10 attack plane crashed in the Persian Gulf after being shot down by Iranian defense forces.

Oracle’s Dubai offices were hit after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards threatened the company. Images verified by the AP outside the UAE show a large hole in the southwest corner of the building.

Dubai Media Office, speaking on behalf of the Sheikhdom’s government, said there were no injuries and noted “a minor incident caused by debris falling on the facade of the building as a result of aerial intervention.” Austin, Texas-based Oracle Corp. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Guard accused some major US technology companies of participating in “terrorist espionage” operations against the Islamic Republic and described them as legitimate targets. Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain have been hit in previous drone attacks.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday that he would disrupt traffic in the Bab al-Mandeb, the second strategic waterway in the region.

The 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of global oil transported by sea and a quarter of container ships pass through here.

“Which countries and companies carry out the highest transit volume in the Bosphorus?” Kalibaf wrote.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the war.

More than two dozen people died in the Gulf Arab countries and the occupied West Bank, while 19 people died in Israel and 13 in the USA. service members was killed. More than 1,400 people in Lebanon was killed and over 1 million displaced people. 10 Israeli soldiers died there.

Jon Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Samy Magdy reported from Cairo. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Konstantin Toropin, Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.