U.S. rescues pilot who ejected after fighter jet was shot down by Iran, officials say

WASHINGTON- A crew member was rescued after a US plane crashed Friday in Iran, the Associated Press reported, citing US and Israeli officials.

U.S. forces launched a rescue mission in southwest Iran after at least one American crew member was ejected from a fighter jet shot down by Iranian defenses, according to a U.S. official and media reports.

The downing of the plane, an F-15E, was confirmed to the Times by a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. This type of aircraft would have carried a standard crew of two, but it was unclear whether more than one crew member had ejected.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has maintained for weeks that the United States has “complete and undisputed control of Iranian airspace” after destroying the country’s air defenses.

“Iran has no air defense, no air force,” he said at a March 13 press conference at the Pentagon. “Today, as we speak, we are flying over Iran and Tehran, with fighters and bombers all day, picking and choosing targets as our intelligence improves and becomes more refined. »

But the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said a new type of Iranian air defense system deployed for the first time in recent days had shot down a warplane on Friday.

These statements sparked a wave of contradictory instructions from Iranian state-affiliated television channels. A local TV station initially encouraged viewers to look for the downed pilot and “shoot him the minute you see him.”

According to the Associated Press, police later changed their instructions after local police issued a statement asking the public to capture and hand over the American pilots alive to security agencies to “receive a valuable reward.”

On social media, Iranian accounts posted videos claiming to show helicopters searching for downed pilots in Iran’s western and southern provinces, according to a Fars News report.

Fars also reported that officials in southwest Iran were offering a “valuable reward” to anyone who “captures the American pilot alive.”

Images of a tail section posted on social media bore markings indicating it came from the 48th Fighter Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, according to Peter Layton, a visiting scholar at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, in an interview with NBC News.

The United States and Israel intensify attacks on infrastructure

The development came as U.S. and Israeli forces intensified attacks on civilian sites and key infrastructure across Iran on Friday, including strikes on residential buildings, health centers and Iran’s largest bridge, as President Trump warned that the United States “has not even begun to destroy what’s left in Iran.”

On his social networks, the president published dramatic images of the burning B1 bridge, an imposing viaduct suspended from cables which was severed during the American-Israeli strikes on Thursday evening.

“Iran’s largest bridge is collapsing and will never be used again. There will be plenty more to follow! » Trump wrote.

Connecting Tehran to the city of Karaj, the $400 million bridge was the largest in Iran and was often considered one of the largest, most expensive and complex engineering projects in the Middle East.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei called the attack a “war crime in the style of ISIS terrorism.” Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi called the act a sign of moral collapse by an “enemy in disarray,” saying such actions will not force the Iranians to surrender.

“Every bridge and every building will be rebuilt stronger. What will never recover: the damage to America’s reputation.”

The attacks come after Trump announced what he described as a two- to three-day “exit” from hostilities, while simultaneously warning that he would return Iran “to the Stone Age” if it did not give in to US demands.

Reports from Iranian state media and international monitoring groups say the strikes also hit homes, religious centers, universities and municipal infrastructure in several provinces, raising concerns among humanitarian organizations that the scope of targets is widening.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that the United States and Israel have been carrying out systematic attacks on Iranian health facilities since March 1.

“WHO has verified more than 20 attacks on health care in Iran, resulting in at least nine deaths, including that of a health worker specializing in infectious diseases and a member of the Iranian Red Crescent Society,” Tedros wrote on X.

Iran’s Health Ministry estimates that around 2,076 people have been killed and 26,500 injured by US-Israeli attacks since fighting began on February 28. About 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to its health ministry, while more than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank.

Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed and 19 Israeli service members are believed to have been killed during a five-week-old war that has sparked growing unease in the United States.

A recent Pew Research Center survey conducted in late March found that most Americans opposed direct U.S. military involvement in a war with Iran. Another Gallup poll reported a decline in approval of the administration’s handling of foreign policy.

Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about Israel’s influence in the Trump administration’s decision to enter a protracted conflict, stoking debates over military aid and executive branch war powers.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that she plans to oppose future military aid to Israel, including for its Iron Dome defense systems. She argued that the Israeli government recently funded a $45 billion defense budget and is “fully capable” of financing its war without U.S. assistance.

“I will not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that systematically ignores international law and American law,” she said on X.

Iran hits desalination plant and oil refinery

Iran retaliated, again targeting infrastructure targets operated by its Gulf neighbors. A series of airstrikes set fire to Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery, the Associated Press reported, as Kuwaiti firefighters worked to put out several fires there.

Kuwait also reported that an Iranian attack significantly damaged a desalination plant, which supplies drinking water to the region.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Israel all rushed to intercept Iranian missiles on Friday, according to reports, despite assurances from the Pentagon that Iran’s military installations and missile capability have been largely wiped out.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile intercept reportedly rained debris on it and sparked a fire, the Associated Press reported.

The war has pushed Iran to tighten its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices up 50 percent, upending stock markets and causing supply chain disruptions that threaten to destabilize global food markets.

Americans felt another surge in oil this week, after Trump’s speech on Wednesday dashed investors’ hopes for a quick end to the conflict, sending U.S. crude prices up 11% on Thursday and another half-point on Friday.