US fighter jet shot down over Iran, search mounted for crew

Washington/Cairo: Iran has shot down a US fighter jet over the country, according to US officials.

A search and rescue operation is under way for any survivors, a US official told Reuters on Friday (US time). US news site CBS said officials had confirmed the downed aircraft was an F15-E fighter jet, while Axios reported the search was for two crew members.

A pilot or pilots ejected from the aircraft over southwestern Iran, Iranian media claimed on Friday, urging Iranians in the area to help hunt them down.

US Central Command, the Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The TV channel in Iran’s Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province initially urged viewers who see Americans to “shoot them as soon as you see them.” Then it changed the instructions, saying police want Iranians to hand over any downed American pilots alive to security agencies to “receive a precious prize”.

Trump says US ‘hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran’

US President Donald Trump has said America “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran”, reiterating vows to increase the ferocity of attacks on its infrastructure, as dozens of countries sought ways to restart vital energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

“With a little more time, we can easily open the Hormuz strait, take the oil, and make a fortune,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning (Washington time). “It would be a ‘gusher’ for the world???”

Nearly five weeks after it started with a joint US-Israeli aerial assault, the war in Iran continues to spread chaos across the region and roil financial markets, raising the pressure on Trump to find a quick resolution to the conflict.

Trump has stepped up his rhetoric in recent days as negotiations conducted via intermediaries with new leaders in Iran show limited signs of progress.

The US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants,” Trump wrote on social media late on Thursday (Washington time), adding that Iran’s leadership “knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!”

He earlier posted video of the US bombing a newly constructed bridge between Tehran and the major north-west suburb of Karaj. The B1 bridge was scheduled to open to traffic this year. According to Iran’s state media, eight people were killed and 95 others were wounded in the attack.

“Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a statement.

Iranian media reported a drone attack on Friday morning on a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of southern Bushehr province, saying two containers were destroyed. Bushehr, a major port city and key maritime hub, also hosts Iran’s first nuclear power facility.

Iran and its allies have continued to strike targets around the Gulf. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by drones, setting off fires at operating units, but no injuries were reported, according to the state news agency.

Concerns about potential US war crimes raised

More than 100 American international law experts said the conduct of US forces and statements by senior US officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes”.

A letter signed by the experts particularly noted a mid-March comment from Trump where he said the US might conduct strikes on Iran “just for fun”. It also cited comments from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth from early March in which he said the US does not fight with “stupid rules of engagement”.

In a speech on Wednesday night, Trump repeated his threats against Iran’s civilian power plants and gave no clear timeline for ending hostilities. That drew vows of retaliation from Iran, weighed on global share prices and sent oil prices surging on concerns the Strait of Hormuz would remain largely closed.

Britain chaired a virtual meeting on Thursday of some 40 countries to explore ways to restore freedom of navigation that did not produce any specific agreement, though participants agreed that all nations should be able to use the waterway freely, one official said.

UNSC to vote on Bahraini plan to protect shipping

The United Nations Security Council was set to vote at the weekend on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the strait, diplomats said, but veto-wielding China made clear its opposition to authorising any use of force.

Any military action would be “legitimising the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences”, China’s UN envoy, Fu Cong, told the Security Council.

Iran has in effect shut down the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s total oil trade, in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28.

Tehran offered a competing vision for future control of the strait, and said it was drafting a protocol with neighbouring Oman that would require ships to obtain permits and licences.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, pushed back against Tehran’s plan, saying Iran cannot be allowed to charge countries a bounty to let ships pass. “International law doesn’t recognise pay-to-pass schemes,” Kallas wrote on social media.

Hegseth fires US Army chief

As the US military builds up its forces in the Middle East, Hegseth removed the army’s top uniformed officer and two other generals, the Pentagon said without giving a reason.

General Randy George, who had more than a year left in his term as Army chief of staff, would be retiring, effective immediately, it said.

The ouster of such a senior military figure is nearly without precedent during wartime, but the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Hegseth since he took office last year.

Hegseth’s former military aide and Army vice chief of staff, General Christopher LaNeve, will take over George’s role in an acting capacity.

Reuters, AP

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