The US military pressed ahead Saturday in a search for a missing pilot in southwestern Iran after Tehran shot down an American warplane and urged citizens to report the pilot for a reward.
Iran identified the aircraft as a US F-15E Strike Eagle, one of two planes attacked on Friday, with one crew member rescued and another missing.
It marked the first US aircraft loss inside Iranian territory during the six-week war and signals a potential turning point in the conflict.
The war, launched by the US and Israel on February 28, has spread across the region, killing thousands, disrupting global markets, and driving up fuel prices amid continued retaliatory strikes.
Missile and drone attacks persisted Saturday, with an apparent Iranian drone damaging Oracle’s headquarters in Dubai, while Israel reported incoming Iranian missiles.
The incident followed President Donald Trump’s claim that the US had “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and would “finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.”
An airstrike also hit near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility, killing a security guard and damaging infrastructure, marking the fourth attack on the site.
The search for the missing pilot focused on a mountainous area in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. The Pentagon confirmed it received reports of “an aircraft being shot down” but provided no further details.
One US crew member was rescued, while the status of another remained unknown, prompting an ongoing search-and-rescue operation.
Trump declined to discuss the mission but said it would not affect negotiations with Iran. Iranian media separately claimed an A-10 aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck, though a US official said it was unclear whether the aircraft was shot down or crashed.
State television urged citizens to report any “enemy pilot” to authorities. Throughout the war, Iran has made several claims about downing US aircraft, though many proved false, making Friday’s confirmed incident significant.
The F-15E Strike Eagle carries both a pilot and a weapons systems officer. Meanwhile, the drone strike on Oracle’s Dubai headquarters followed threats by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard against US technology firms.
Authorities in Dubai said the damage resulted from debris from an intercepted aerial object, with no casualties reported.
Iran has accused major US tech firms of involvement in “terrorist espionage” and warned they could be targeted.
Earlier strikes had hit Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf hinted at disrupting traffic through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a key global trade route.
“What share of global oil, LNG, wheat, rice, and fertilizer shipments transits the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait?” he wrote.
Iran has already disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing fuel prices higher and rattling global markets.
The UN Security Council was expected to discuss the situation Saturday. Trump has alternated between threatening Iran and urging other nations to secure their own energy supplies.
“With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE,” he wrote.
The war has killed more than 1,900 people in Iran, according to conflict monitors. Casualties elsewhere include over two dozen in Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, 19 in Israel, 13 US service members, and more than 1,300 in Lebanon, where over 1 million people have been displaced.
