Six weeks into the war, Iran shot down a U.S. F-15E and offered a reward for the missing crew member, while mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt push for ceasefire talks.
The U.S. military pressed ahead Saturday in a search for a missing airman over a remote mountainous region in southwestern Iran, one day after Iranian forces shot down an American F-15E Strike Eagle in what marked the first loss of a U.S. aircraft in Iranian territory since the war began six weeks ago.
Iran’s state television called on citizens to locate and hand over the missing crew member to police, offering a reward for anyone who does. Iranian forces were actively searching the same terrain as U.S. rescue teams in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. One crew member from the F-15E had been rescued. The status of the second remained unknown as of Saturday.
A separate U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after reportedly being struck by Iranian defenses on the same day. A U.S. official, speaking anonymously to discuss a sensitive military situation, said it was unclear whether the aircraft was shot down or crashed for another reason. One crew member from that aircraft was also reported rescued.
A war that shows no signs of slowing
The downing of the American aircraft came two days after Trump said in a national address that the United States had beaten and completely decimated Iran and that Iran’s air defenses had been obliterated. The incident undercut those claims and added new pressure on the administration to find a path toward ending the fighting.
The war, which began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28, has now killed thousands, disrupted global shipping routes, and driven fuel prices sharply higher across the world. On Saturday, Trump reminded Iran of a Monday deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, warning of severe consequences if the deadline passed without a deal.
Iran strikes tech infrastructure and threatens a second waterway
Also on Saturday, an apparent Iranian drone struck the Dubai headquarters of Oracle, leaving a large hole in the building’s exterior. The United Arab Emirates government described the damage as minor, caused by debris from an aerial interception, and said no injuries were reported. Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The strike followed earlier Iranian drone attacks on Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had previously accused major U.S. technology companies of involvement in espionage operations against the Islamic Republic and designated them as legitimate targets.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker also issued a veiled threat to disrupt traffic through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a 20-mile-wide passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of global seaborne oil and roughly a quarter of the world’s container ships pass through it. The threat signaled Iran’s intent to expand economic pressure beyond the Strait of Hormuz if the conflict continues.
Nuclear facility targeted again
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization confirmed that an airstrike struck near the Bushehr nuclear facility in southwest Iran on Saturday, killing a security guard and damaging a support building. It was the fourth time the facility had been targeted during the war. The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation said 198 workers were being evacuated from the site. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had notified it of the strike and confirmed that no increase in radiation levels had been detected.
Diplomacy moves in the background
While the battlefield intensified, diplomatic channels remained active. Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran had never refused to participate in talks hosted in Islamabad, signaling at least nominal openness to negotiation. Pakistan’s foreign ministry confirmed that its mediation efforts were on track, with officials from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt working to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
The proposed framework under discussion includes a cessation of hostilities as a foundation for a broader diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the effort and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter, both of whom spoke anonymously to discuss closed-door negotiations. The U.N. Security Council was also expected to take up the matter of reopening the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.
The human toll
The war’s civilian death toll continued to climb. More than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran since the fighting began. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people had died and over one million had been displaced as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued in parallel. At least 19 people had been killed in Israel, 13 U.S. service members had died, and more than two dozen deaths had been reported across Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank.