U.S. Launches Rescue Operation After Iranian Media Says Fighter Jet Downed

According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the US announcement, Israel is assisting the US in the search and rescue operation. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that President Donald Trump was briefed but did not provide any additional information.

This marks the first time the US has lost aircraft over Iranian territory and marks a dramatic escalation since the war began five weeks ago. It is not yet clear whether the plane was shot down or crashed.

Iran opened fire on targets in the Middle East on Friday as Tehran maintained pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors despite US and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been completely destroyed.

Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas transits in peacetime, have rattled stock markets, sent oil prices soaring and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.

Television presenter urges residents to hand over pilot Social media images show American drones, planes and helicopters flying over the mountainous region, where the Iranian channel said at least one pilot from the warplane was rescued.

An announcer on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television called on locals to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the police and promised a reward to anyone who did so. The canal is located in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, a densely rural and mountainous region spanning 15,500 square kilometers (5,900 square miles).

Authorities also appealed to the public to search for the pilot in neighboring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces.

The number of crew on board is not yet known. The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to multiple messages seeking comment.

Throughout the war, Iran made a number of claims that piloted enemy aircraft had been shot down, but these turned out to be untrue. On Friday, Iran went on television for the first time, urging the public to look for the suspected pilot who crashed.

An on-screen scan had earlier urged the public to “shoot if you see it”, referencing images circulating on social media of what appeared to be a US aircraft in the area. The channel showed metal debris in the back of a pickup truck when making the announcement, but did not provide any other details.

Iran targets a desalination plant and a refinery The claim comes after Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery came under attack by Iran, and the state-run Kuwait Oil Company said firefighters were working to contain several fires.

Kuwait also said the Iranian attack caused “material damage” to the desalination plant. Such facilities are responsible for most of the Gulf countries’ drinking water and have become a major target in the war.

Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, and Israel reported missiles were coming.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have closed a gas field after a missile strike rained down debris and started a fire.

Activists reported strikes around Tehran and Isfahan, but it was not immediately clear what was hit. A day ago, Iran announced that eight people were killed when the US crashed into a large bridge under construction.

According to the state-run National News Agency, two people were killed in a drone attack on people leaving Friday prayers near Beirut in Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground operation in its fight against the pro-Iran Hezbollah militant group.

More than 1,900 people have lost their lives in attacks by the USA and Israel since the war in Iran began on February 28. Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a US-based group, said in a review published Friday that it found civilian casualties centered around attacks on security and government-related areas “rather than indiscriminate bombing” of urban areas.

More than two dozen people were killed in the Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 people were reported dead in Israel, and 13 US soldiers were reported killed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon. 10 Israeli soldiers also died there.

Iran keeps control of the Strait of Hormuz World leaders are struggling to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait, which has far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has emerged as Iran’s greatest strategic advantage in the war.

The UN Security Council was expected to consider the issue on Saturday.

Trump vacillated on America’s role in the strait; He sometimes threatened Iran if it did not open the waterway, and told other countries to “go buy their own oil.” In his post on social media on Friday, he said, “With a little more time, we can easily open the HORUZ STRAIT, get the oil, and make a fortune.”

Spot prices for Brent crude, the international standard, were around $109 on Friday, up more than 50 percent since the start of the war when Iran began restricting traffic across the strait.

Iran’s former top diplomat offers terms to end war Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif – a diplomat with long experience in negotiating with the West and close to the pragmatic wing of the Iranian leadership – wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine on Friday that it was time to end what he called an impasse.

The US and Iran have proposed dueling plans, and Zarif’s proposal included elements of both; This was a sign that the Iranian leadership might be willing to negotiate.

Iran, he wrote, “should offer to limit its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the end of all sanctions; a deal that Washington would not accept before but may accept now.”

It’s unclear how much consideration should be given to the proposal from Zarif, who holds no official position in the Iranian government but is unlikely to publish such an article without at least some permission from senior leaders.