US Searches for Downed Airman as Iran Keeps Striking Gulf States

The US continued search-and-rescue operations for a crew member from an F-15E fighter jet shot down by Iran on Friday, as Tehran kept up attacks on Gulf Arab states. A second US combat plane reportedly crashed in the Persian Gulf the same day. The incidents mark a significant blow for Washington as the war enters its sixth week with energy prices rising and little sign that Iran will back down or reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz. On Saturday, a US-Israeli strike targeting the perimeter of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant left one security staff member dead, Iran's semi-official TasnimBloomberg Terminal news agency reported. The main sections of the facility, where Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom has workers, were unaffected, Tasnim said. Iran continues to fire missiles and drones at Arab Gulf states and Israel. Dubai authorities reported that debris from an aerial interception fell on the facade of an Oracle Corp. building in Dubai Internet City on Saturday morning. They also reported debris falling on a building in the nearby Dubai Marina area. No fire or injuries were reported. Iranian media reported more missiles strikes against Israel the same day. The downing of the US jet came after US President Donald Trump said in a primetime speech on Wednesday that Iran had "no anti-aircraft equipment." His military commanders, as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have previously touted US air superiority over Iranian territory. It's the first known combat loss of a US or Israeli plane since the two countries began attacking Iran on Feb. 28. Still, three US aircraft were downed by friendly fire in Kuwait early in the war, with others destroyed or damaged at airbases by Iranian drone and missile strikes. The US rescued one of the F-15 crew members, according to an American official who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information. The status of the second person is unclear and Iranian media said Tehran offered a reward of about $66,000 to citizens who "capture the pilot alive." Trump declined to discuss the search-and-rescue operations in an interview with NBC News on Friday. He said the events wouldn't affect any peace negotiations with Iran, according to a reporter who spoke to him on a call. The lone pilot of the second plane -- an A-10 Warthog -- was safely rescued, the New York TimesBloomberg Terminal reported. Iran has continued to hit key energy infrastructure in the past two days. The UAE's largest natural gas processing facility, Habshan, suspended operations Bloomberg Terminalafter debris from a projectile interception sparked a fire. A drone attack set ablaze Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery, which can process almost 350,000 barrels a day of crude. The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member, said it detected 69 projectiles fired from Iran on Friday, including 47 drones and 18 ballistic missiles. That was the highest number of projectiles since March 8, according to data published by UAE authorities. The UAE, like other Gulf states and Israel, has intercepted the vast majority of Iranian attacks. Israel's military said it hit air defense sites and missile storage facilities in a wave of airstrikes on Tehran on Friday. Iran said US-Israeli strikes hit a petrochemical zoneBloomberg Terminal in Mahshahr, in the southwestern Khuzestan province on Saturday. Authorities ordered the evacuation of all personnel and said any potential pollutants don't pose a risk to nearby cities, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iran has shown little sign of accepting Trump's demands for peace and has laid out its own conditionsBloomberg Terminal -- most of them unacceptable to the US and Israel. The New York Times, citing US intelligence reports, said Iranian personnel have been digging out underground missile bunkers and silos struck by American and Israeli bombs and returning them to operation hours after attacksBloomberg Terminal. That casts doubt on the US and Israel's ability to destroy Iran's missile capability -- one of their key war goals. Trump signaled this week he may be willing to pull US forces out of the conflict in two to three weeks, even if the Strait of Hormuz is still effectively shut. US allies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia are stepping up efforts to ensure the waterway -- through which one fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally flow -- is reopened soon. More than 40 of them met virtually on Thursday to discuss plans, in a signal to Trump of their concern about the crisis triggered by the closure, with prices of energy and other commodities soaring in the past month. The group was clear any ceasefire talks with Iran needed to include a solution for Hormuz, people familiar with the discussions said. Still, the meeting showed the coalition of countries deem it necessary to begin preparations for having to reopen the strait without the US. Nations such as France and the UK have said military options are unlikely to work until there's a ceasefire. Bahrain, supported by Jordan and Arab Gulf states, is proposing a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at helping re-open Hormuz, according to the UAE. It would provide "a clear legal basis for all states to mobilize and support safe passage," the UAE said in a post on X. It's unclear when a vote on the resolution will take place. Russia, an Iranian ally, pushed back on the initiative, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying it would "legitimize aggression against Iran." The comments signal Moscow may use its veto power, as one of five permanent members of the Security Council. Iran appeared to tighten its grip on the strait on Thursday, when its media reported that the government is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic. That would require shippers to pay tolls to Iran, according to its deputy foreign minister. The passage is officially in international waters and any attempt by Iran to assert control over traffic will be opposed strongly by Western powers and Gulf Arab states. A trickle of ships is managing to pass through. A French container ship and a Japanese-owned tanker have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the past two days, in what appear to be the first such transits since the war in Iran shuttered the crucial waterway. Trump has swung between casting diplomatic efforts with Iran as productive, and threatening further destruction. Earlier this week, he vowed to target Iran's energy facilities and perhaps water desalination plants if the strait stays shut -- a move that could constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. He previously said Iran has until April 6 to reopen Hormuz or have its power plants destroyed. It's unclear if that deadline is still in place. The president is under increasing pressure from Americans to ease the energy shock, which has seen gasoline pump prices in the country jump to more than $4 a gallon on average. That's the highest in almost four years and carries political risks for Trump and his Republican Party as the November midterm elections approach. US benchmark oil prices, or WTI futures, closed above $111 a barrel last week and have almost doubled this year. Read More on Iran War: More than 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, almost three-quarters of them in Iran, according to government organizations and the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Just over 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting a parallel war against Iran-allied Hezbollah.