Washington: Iran shot down two US military planes in separate attacks Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing, in a dramatic escalation since the war began nearly five weeks ago.
It was the first time US aircraft had been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the US had beaten and completely decimated Iran and was going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.
One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A US crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a US military search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Neither the White House nor Pentagon released public information about the downed planes. In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to discuss the search-and-rescue efforts but said what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.
No, not at all. No, it’s war, he said.
Separately, Iranian state media said a US. An A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defence forces.
A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said earlier that it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down or whether Iran was involved. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it went down was immediately known.
Those incidents came as Iran fired on targets across the Middle EastFriday, keeping the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbours despite US and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed.
Second service member’s status unknown
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released public information about the downed planes. But the Pentagon notified the House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member from the fighter jet was not known.
In an email from the Pentagon that was obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, the military said it received notification of an aircraft being shot down in the Middle East, without providing more details.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.
Downed jet could mark a new level of pressure on the US
Prior to word of the rescue, social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region where a TV channel affiliated with Iranian state television said earlier that at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.
An anchor urged residents to hand over any enemy pilot to police and promised a reward.
It was the first time the US has lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the conflict, and could mark a new level of pressure on the US military.
Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time that Iran went on television, urging the public to look for a downed pilot.
Iranian state media said in a post on the social platform X that the military shot down a US F-15E Strike Eagle. The aircraft is a variation of the Air Force fighter jet that carries a pilot and a weapons system officer.
Alan Diehl, a former investigator for the Air Force Safety Centre, said the Strike Eagle has an emergency locator beacon in a survival kit that can be set to activate automatically or manually.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had been briefed but did not offer additional information. The president subsequently posted messages on Iran to his social media site but made no mention of the downed aircraft or search-and-rescue efforts.
Iran targets desalination plant, refinery
News about the downed planes came after Iran attacked Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery. The state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said firefighters were working to control several blazes.
Kuwait also said an Iranian attack caused material damage to a desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states, and they have become a major target in the war.
Also, sirens sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it destroyed several Iranian drones, and Israel reported incoming missiles.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile interception reportedly rained debris on it and started a fire.
Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it was not immediately clear what was hit.
In Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group, an Israeli drone strike on worshippers leaving Friday prayers near Beirut killed two people, according to the state-run National News Agency
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began February 28 with US and Israeli strikes. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a US-based group, said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites rather than indiscriminate bombardment of urban areas.
More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank; 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.
More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than one million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
Iran keeps chokehold on Strait of Hormuz
World leaders have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the waterway, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.
The UN Security Council was expected to take up the matter Saturday.
Trump has vacillated on America’s role in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it does not open the strait and telling other nations to go get their own oil. Friday he said in a post on social media that, With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.
Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, were around USD 109, up more than 50 per cent since the start of the war, when Iran began restricting traffic through the strait.
