Iran urged to catch ‘enemy pilot’ after US warplane shot down and crew member lacking

The US says one service member was rescued and at least one is missing after two US military planes were shot down in Iran – a reward to find him has now been offered

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The US military is urgently searching for a missing pilot after Iran downed an American warplane and urged the public to hand over the pilot, offering a reward. The aircraft, identified by Iran as a US F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two targeted on Friday, with one serviceman rescued and at least one still unaccounted for.

This marks the first instance of the United States losing aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could signify a new turning point in the campaign. The conflict, initiated by the US and Israel on 28 February, has sent shockwaves across the region.

So far, it has claimed thousands of lives, disrupted global markets, severed crucial shipping routes, caused fuel prices to surge and shows no signs of abating as Iran retaliates to US and Israeli air strikes with attacks across the region.

Missile and drone strikes persisted into Saturday, with an apparent Iranian drone causing damage to the headquarters of US tech giant Oracle in Dubai.

The shooting down of the military planes occurred just two days after President Donald Trump declared in a national address that the US has “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast”.

The US and Israel had recently boasted that Iran’s air defences were decimated. Also on Saturday, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran reported an air strike near its Bushehr nuclear facility, resulting in the death of a security guard and damage to a support building.

This marks the fourth occasion the facility has been hit during the conflict. The agency confirmed the assault on social media.

Neither the White House nor the Pentagon issued public details regarding the downed aircraft. Meanwhile, in an email from the Pentagon secured by The Associated Press, the military stated it had received word of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without offering further particulars.

One US crew member from that aircraft was recovered. However, the Pentagon also informed the House Armed Services Committee that the whereabouts of a second service member aboard the fighter jet remained unknown.

A US military search-and-rescue mission continued on Saturday.

During a short telephone conversation with NBC News on Friday, Mr Trump refused to discuss the search-and-rescue operations but stated what occurred would not impact discussions with Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported a US A-10 attack aircraft plummeted into the Persian Gulf after being hit by Iranian defence forces.

A US official said it remained unclear whether the aircraft crashed or was brought down or if Iran was responsible.

Neither the condition of the crew nor precisely where it came down was immediately established.

A presenter on a television channel linked to Iranian state broadcasting called on locals to surrender any “enemy pilot” to authorities.

During the conflict, Iran has made numerous assertions about downing piloted enemy aircraft that proved to be false. Friday marked the first instance of the Iranian public being encouraged to search for a downed pilot.

Iranian state media announced on social platform X that its military had shot down a US F-15E Strike Eagle.

This aircraft is a variant of the Air Force fighter jet, accommodating both a pilot and a weapons system officer.

On Saturday, an alleged Iranian drone inflicted damage on the Dubai headquarters of American tech behemoth Oracle, following threats against the company by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

The assault targeted the headquarters, located along Dubai’s principal Sheikh Zayed Road.

Footage acquired by The Associated Press from outside the United Arab Emirates (UAE) revealed damage to the building.

A substantial hole was visible in the building’s southwestern corner, with the “e” in “Oracle” on a neon sign damaged.

Dubai’s Media Office, representing its government, described it as a “minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade of the Oracle building in Dubai Internet City”, adding there were no casualties.

Oracle, headquartered in Austin, Texas, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The guard has accused some of America’s largest tech firms of participating in “terrorist espionage” operations against the Islamic Republic, declaring them legitimate targets.

Earlier, Iranian drone strikes hit Amazon Web Services facilities in both the UAE and Bahrain.

In a social media post late on Friday, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, issued a veiled threat to disrupt traffic through the Bab-el-Mandeb, a second strategic waterway.

The strait, 32 kilometres (20 miles) wide, connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

It represents one of the most congested bottlenecks in international trade, with more than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships passing through it.

“What share of global oil, LNG, wheat, rice, and fertilizer shipments transits the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait?” Mr Qalibaf posted.

“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?”

Iran has already severely disrupted the movement of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, causing fuel prices to rocket and shocking the world economy.

Global leaders are battling to break Iran’s grip on the strait as the UN Security Council is expected to address the matter on Saturday.

Mr Trump has wavered on America’s involvement in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it does not reopen the waterway and telling other nations to “go get your own oil”.

On Friday, he stated in a post on social media: “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began. In a review published on Friday, the US-based organisation Armed Conflict Location and Event Data reported that civilian casualties were concentrated around attacks on security and state-linked sites “rather than indiscriminate bombardment” of urban areas.

Over two dozen individuals have lost their lives in Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, 19 fatalities have been reported in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.

In Lebanon, over 1,300 individuals have lost their lives and more than one million have been displaced.

Ten Israeli soldiers have also lost their lives there.