Iran downs US fighter jet in southwestern region; hits Gulf energy sites

US hits B1 bridge between Tehran, Karaj; IRan strikes water plant, oil refinery in Kuwait

Iran shot down a United States (US) warplane on Friday, setting off a search by both sides for surviving crew as the war looked set to intensify with President Donald Trump threatening more attacks on civilian infrastructure.

 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was combing an area near where the plane came down in southwestern Iran. The regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed the pilot.

 

A US military official confirmed that a fighter jet had been shot down and a search was under way.

 

Iranian news agencies said US helicopters were flying low on apparent search missions and carried videos of residents shooting at them.

 

 

There were no confirmed details of the searches or the type of aircraft shot down, which the Iranian military said was an F-35, a single-seater. The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

The loss underlined the risk still faced by US and Israeli aircraft over Iran, despite assertions by Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that their forces had total control of the skies.

 

Nearly five weeks after the US and Israel opened the campaign with a wave of strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, there is no sign of an end to the war, which has already killed thousands and threatened lasting damage to the global economy.

 

Attack continues

 

On Thursday, Trump posted footage on social media showing dust and smoke billowing up as US strikes hit the newly constructed B1 bridge between Tehran and nearby Karaj, which was due to open this year, and said more attacks would follow.

 

“Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!,’ he wrote in a subsequent post.

 

Despite the pressure, Iran has been able to hit back at Israel and strike Gulf countries allied to the US, which have so far held back from joining the war directly for fear of further escalation.

 

On Friday, as Trump threatened to hit its bridges and power plants, Iran struck a power and water plant in Kuwait, underlining the vulnerability of Gulf States that rely heavily on desalination plants for drinking water.

 

Iran has continued to strike targets around the Gulf. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery had been hit by drones. 

 

Other attacks were also reported to have been intercepted in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Missile debris landed near the Israeli port of Haifa, site of a major oil refinery.

 

Trump urged Iran’s leaders to seek peace, saying on social media that Iran “knows what has to be done, and has to be done, Fast!”.

 

But Tehran has shown no sign of acquiescence and Trump faces growing pressure to find a quick resolution, with anger building at home and his Republican Party in danger of losing control of Congress at elections in November.

 

Negotiations conducted via intermediaries with new leaders in Iran have shown little sign of progress, and polls indicate most Americans oppose the war.

 

Trump has expressed anger at US allies that have refused his calls to help re-open the strait, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied gas passes in normal times. On Friday, he said reopening it would not be difficult.

 

“With a little more time, we can easily open the Hormuz Strait, take the oil, & make a fortune,” he said on Truth Social.

 

The US and Israel say they have degraded Iran’s military capacity. But Iranian media have issued daily reports of attacks on civilian sites too, including schools, pharmaceutical suppliers and health facilities. 

 

On Thursday, the century-old Pasteur Institute in the heart of Tehran was severely damaged, the Health Ministry said.

 

On Friday, a drone hit a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of the southern Bushehr province.

 

Over 100 American international law experts said the conduct of US forces and statements by senior US. officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes”.

 

Global economic upheaval 

 

Global financial markets have whipsawed in response to expectations of a possible end to the war and the re-opening of the Strait, which only isolated vessels have been able to transit.

 

The closure has also squeezed shipments of fertiliser, threatening a humanitarian crisis in developing countries in Asia and Africa, underlined by data showing a sharp rise in global food prices in March.

 

On Friday, a container ship belonging to the French shipping group CMA CGM passed through, Marine Traffic vessel tracking data showed, a sign that Iran may not consider France hostile. A liquefied natural gas ship belonging to Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines also transited.

 

Oil markets were closed after benchmark US crude prices gained 11 per cent on Thursday following a speech by Trump that offered no clear sign of an imminent end to the war.

 

The UN Security Council is set to vote on Saturday on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the strait, diplomats said, but veto-wielding China made clear its opposition to authorising armed intervention.

 

Hegseth asks Army Chief of Staff Gen Randy George to step down 

 

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the Army’s top uniformed officer and two other generals, the Pentagon said Thursday without giving a reason for the departures during a war with Iran.

 

Gen Randy George “will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately,” said Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman. George has held the post of Army chief of staff, which typically runs for four years, since August 2023 under the Biden administration.

 

The ouster, reported earlier by CBS News, is just the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Hegseth since he took office last year. Like many of those other firings, Pentagon officials are not offering a reason for George’s departure, which comes nearly five weeks into US-Israel attacks on Iran and with no clear timeline from President Donald Trump on when the war may end.

 

World food price rise set to continue if Iran war drags: FAO 

 

World food prices climbed in March to their highest level since September last year and could rise further if the West Asia conflict that pushed up energy prices continues, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Friday.

 

“Price rises since the conflict began have been modest, driven mainly by higher oil prices and cushioned by ample global cereal supplies,” FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said in a statement.

 

But if the conflict lasts over 40 days and input costs remain high, farmers may reduce inputs, plant less, or switch crops to less intensive fertiliser crops, he said. “Those choices will hit future yields and shape our food supply and commodity prices for the rest of this year and all of the next,” he added. The FAO Food Price Index, which measures changes in a basket of globally traded food commodities, rose by 2.4 per cent from its revised February level.

 

Italy extends ‘Iran war’ fuel-tax cut at cost of $577 million

 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government extended Italy’s fuel tax cut through May 1, committing about €500 million ($577 million) in added funds to blunt the impact of higher energy prices caused by the Iran war. Until then, consumers and businesses will continue to see a €0.25 per liter reduction in taxes at the pump, Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said Friday. The new measures add to a similar-sized package that was set to expire on April 7.

 

“We’re talking about an emergency here,” Giorgetti told reporters in Rome. “The overall situation is objectively worrying for the economy,” Giorgetti added, referring to the war in Iran, with effects on monetary and fiscal policy for the countries affected. 

 

Meloni’s government has limited headroom to intervene, given a mammoth public debt load and European Union fiscal rules.