TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The U.S. military pressed ahead Saturday in a frantic search for a missing pilot over a remote area in southwestern Iran, a day after the Islamic Republic shot down a U.S. warplane and promised a reward for whoever turns in the pilot.
The plane, identified by Iran as a F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing. It was the first time the United States lost aircraft
in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could add to pressure on the Trump administration to end the fighting.
The war, which began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28, has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. It shows no signs of slowing as Iran responds to ongoing airstrikes with attacks across the region.
The downing of the American planes came two days after U.S. President Donald Trump said in a national address that the United States has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.” The U.S. and Israel recently boasted that Iran’s air defenses were obliterated.
But on Saturday, an apparent Iranian drone damaged the headquarters of U.S. technology company Oracle in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that an airstrike hit near its Bushehr nuclear facility, killing a security guard and damaging a support building. It's the fourth time the facility has been targeted during the war.
Iran’s top diplomat reiterated his government’s willingness to join talks aimed at stopping the war. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that they “have never refused to go to Islamabad.” Last week, Pakistan said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told The Associated Press that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track.”
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt are working to bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table in Pakistan, according to two regional officials. They said that they were working on a compromise to bridge the gap between the two sides' demands to stop the war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Yet to be finalized, the compromise includes a cessation of hostilities for a certain period to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to take up the matter of reopening the strait on Saturday.
The search for the American pilot focused on a mountainous region in Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released information, but in an email from the Pentagon, obtained by the AP, the military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without further details.
A U.S. crew member was rescued. But the Pentagon notified the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member wasn't known.
In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump said that what happened wouldn't affect negotiations with Iran.
Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said that it wasn't clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down. Neither the crew's status nor where it went down was immediately known.
An anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the police, a first in the war. Iran previously made claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true.
An apparent Iranian drone damaged the Dubai headquarters of Oracle after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened the firm.
Footage verified by the AP outside the United Arab Emirates showed a large hole in the building's southwestern corner.
The sheikhdom’s Dubai Media Office, which speaks for its government, noted a “minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade," saying there were no injuries.
Oracle Corp., based in Austin, Texas, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Guard has accused some of the largest U.S. tech companies of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations against the Islamic Republic and called them legitimate targets. Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain were hit in earlier drone strikes.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab-el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It's one of the busiest choke points in global trade. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.
“What share of global oil, LNG, wheat, rice, and fertilizer shipments transits the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait?” Qalibaf wrote, referring to liquefied natural gas. “Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?”
Iran has greatly slowed the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, sending fuel prices skyrocketing. Trump has alternately threatened Iran if it doesn't open the strait and told other nations to “go get your own oil.”
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,300 people have been killed and there have been more than 1 million displaced people. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
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Jon Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Magdy from Cairo. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, and Konstantin Toropin, Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington, contributed to this report.
