Tel Aviv: US President Donald Trump warned Iran to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz by his Monday deadline and Tehran called his threat “unbalanced and foolish”.
The search for a missing US military pilot continued Saturday in a remote part of the Islamic Republic.
Trump has called Tehran “beaten and completely decimated” in the war, now in its sixth week, but the downing of two US warplanes Friday and Iran’s call to find the “enemy pilot” have again raised the stakes.
“The doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, Gen Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country’s joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported.
In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the US military in the region.
The war began with joint US-Israel strikes Feb 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
“We will continue to crush them,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, and confirmed that Israel’s military struck a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr that he said helps to fund the war. Five people were killed and 170 were injured, Iranian state media reported, citing a provincial security official.
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. The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said 198 workers were being evacuated. It was the fourth time the facility was targeted.
Hopes for talks
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told The Associated Press that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track” after Islamabad last week said that it would soon host talks between the US and Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Iranian officials “have never refused to go to Islamabad”.
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt were working to bring the US and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.
The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
Trump reminded Iran of his deadline in a social media post: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
A missing US pilot
The US warplane, identified by Iran as a F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked Friday. Iran’s joint military command Saturday said that it also struck two US Black Hawk helicopters, but the AP couldn’t independently verify that.
The search for the US pilot focused on a mountainous region in Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad. An anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the police.
In an email from the Pentagon, obtained by the AP, the military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East. A US crew member was rescued. The Pentagon notified the US House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member was unknown.
Trump told NBC News that what happened wouldn’t affect negotiations with Iran.
A second US Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East Friday, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation. It wasn’t clear if the aircraft crashed, was shot down, or whether Iran was involved.
Iranian state media said a US A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iran’s defence forces.
Oracle’s Dubai headquarters struck
The Dubai offices of tech company Oracle were hit after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened the firm. Footage verified by the AP outside the UAE 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 Texas, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Guard has accused some large US 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.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait
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 elThe strait, 32 km (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.
“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?” Qalibaf wrote.
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.
