Rescue operation underway after U.S. pilot ejected over southwestern Iran, sources say

The U.S. Armed services launched a deliver performance fri after local iranian language state media said an American fighter jet went down over southwestern Iran and at least one crew member ejected.

Israel is helping the United States with the search and rescue operation, according to an Israeli military officer briefed on the information who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a U.S. Announcement.

Reuters cited two unnamed U.S. Officials who confirmed a search was underway after the jet went down.

Social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region where the Iranian channel said at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.

It would be the first time the U.S. Has lost aircraft in Iranian territory and marks a dramatic escalation in the war since it began five weeks ago. It was not clear if the jet was shot down or crashed. The number of crew on board was not immediately known.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that U.S. President Donald Trump has been briefed. The statement did not include any additional information. The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command didn’t immediately respond to several messages seeking comment.

An anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward for anyone who did. The channel is in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, an intensely rural and mountainous region that spans more than 15,500 square kilometres.

Authorities also urged the public to search for the pilot in the neighbouring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.

Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time that Iran went on television urging the public to look for a suspected downed pilot.

An on-screen crawl earlier urged the public to “shoot them if you see them,” referring to social media footage circulating of what appeared to be U.S. Aircraft in the area. The channel showed metal debris in the back of a pickup truck while making the announcement, but provided no other immediate details.

The claim came after Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery came under Iranian attack, and the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Said firefighters were working to control several blazes.

Kuwait also said an Iranian attack caused “material damage” to a desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states, and they have become a major target in the war.

Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones and Israel reported incoming missiles.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile interception reportedly rained debris on it and started a fire.

Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it wasn't immediately clear what was hit. A day earlier, Iran said the U.S. Hit a major bridge, which was still under construction, killing eight people.

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group, an Israeli drone strike on worshippers leaving Friday prayers near Beirut killed two people, according to the state‑run National News Agency.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began on Feb. 28 with U.S. And Israeli strikes. In a review released Friday, the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data group said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites, "rather than indiscriminate bombardment" of urban areas.

More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than one million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Lebanon and Syria in 'triple emergency': IRC president

Meanwhile, world leaders have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.

The UN Security Council was expected to take up the matter on Saturday.

Trump has vacillated on America’s role in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it doesn’t open the waterway and telling other nations to "go get your own oil." On Friday, he said in a post on social media that, "with a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE."

Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, were around $109 US on Friday, up more than 50 per cent since the start of the war, when Iran began restricting traffic through the strait.

Is Kharg Island a death trap for U.S. Forces? | About That

Former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif — a diplomat with long experience negotiating with the West, who remains close to a pragmatic wing of Iran's leadership — wrote on Friday that the time has come to end the suffering.

"Prolonged hostility will cause a greater loss of precious lives and irreplaceable resources without actually altering the existing stalemate," Zarif, who helped negotiate Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine.

The U.S. Has presented Iran with a 15-point plan for a ceasefire that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, dismantling Iran's nuclear facilities and limiting its missile production in exchange for sanctions relief. But no signs of progress were apparent in the diplomatic effort.

Iran's initial five-point counterproposal, aired by hardline state television, included recognizing Iran's sovereignty over the strait, the removal of U.S. Bases from the region, compensation for war damage and a guarantee against further aggression — all things likely unpalatable to the Trump administration.

Zarif's proposal included elements of both of the plans.

Iran "should offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions — a deal Washington wouldn't take before but might accept now," he wrote.

Tehran and Washington were in talks about Iran's nuclear program when the U.S. And Israel began bombing on Feb. 28 — the second time under Trump that the U.S. Has attacked while in negotiations.

It's not clear how much to read into Zarif's proposal. While he has no official position in Iran's government, he helped get reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian elected and would likely not have published such a piece without at least some authorization from senior leaders.

But it also remains unclear who in Iran has the authority to negotiate, since many leaders have been killed in the war. Immediately after the piece came out, Zarif wrote he had been "torn" about it — a sign he may already face pressure at home.

What's more, it's not clear how Trump will respond. Thousands of U.S. Marines and paratroopers have been ordered to the region, raising speculation that there could be a ground offensive.

---

---