\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2026\/04\/041021089b4de34.webp\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Iranian and American forces raced each other on Saturday to recover a crew member of the US fighter jet shot down<\/a> inside Iran.<\/p>\n Tehran said it had shot down the F-15 warplane, while US media reported United States special forces had rescued one of its two crew members, with the other still missing.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s military also said it downed a US A-10 ground attack aircraft<\/a> in the Gulf, with US media saying the pilot was rescued.<\/p>\n The war erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran that assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n US Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the loss of the F-15, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: \u201cThe president has been briefed.\u201d<\/p>\n President Donald Trump told NBC<\/em> the F-15 loss would not affect<\/a> negotiations with Iran, saying: \u201cNo, not at all. No, it\u2019s war.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Iranian military\u2019s central operational command said \u201can American hostile fighter jet in central Iranian airspace was struck and destroyed by the IRGC Aerospace Force\u2019s advanced air defence system\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe jet was completely obliterated, and further searches are ongoing.\u201d An Iranian television reporter on a local official channel said anyone who captured a crew member alive would \u201creceive a valuable reward\u201d.<\/p>\n The US military has announced the loss of several aircraft during Iran operations, including a tanker that crashed in Iraq and three F-15s reportedly shot down<\/a> by Kuwaiti friendly fire.<\/p>\n Mohammad Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran\u2019s parliament, mocked the Trump administration.<\/p>\n He wrote on X: \u201cAfter defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from \u2018regime change\u2019 to \u2018Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses.\u201d<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Fresh strikes were aimed at Israel, Iran and Lebanon.<\/p>\n On Saturday several blasts were heard coming from Tehran\u2019s north, an AFP<\/em> journalist said.<\/p>\n Strikes by all sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies.<\/p>\n In the area around a bridge west of Tehran that was targeted by the United States<\/a>, an AFP<\/em> reporter saw a villa and residential buildings with blown-out windows, but no military installations.<\/p>\n According to the martyrs foundation of Alborz province, cited by the official IRNA<\/em> agency, the attack killed 13 civilians and wounded dozens.<\/p>\n Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs<\/em>, Iran\u2019s former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said<\/a> Tehran should make a deal with Washington to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.<\/p>\n Iran has virtually blocked<\/a> the key waterway since the war began, where one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil and natural gas normally passes.<\/p>\n Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that Iran would increase its own attacks on energy sites in the region in response to threats from Trump of attacks on infrastructure.<\/p>\n A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait\u2019s national oil company on Friday sparked fires, while a separate Iranian attack damaged a power and desalination complex.<\/p>\n Gulf states, once seen as safe havens, are now under threat, accused by Iran of serving as launchpads for US strikes.<\/p>\n Dubai\u2019s media office said authorities there responded to \u201ca minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception\u201d that fell on a building around the marina area.<\/p>\n No injuries were reported, it said.<\/p>\n The Israeli military claimed on Friday that it had struck more than 3,500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with Hezbollah began.<\/p>\n It added that it would attack two bridges in Lebanon\u2019s eastern Bekaa region \u201cin order to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and military equipment\u201d.<\/p>\n Lebanese state media later reported that Israel destroyed one bridge in the region, and local media said that a second bridge was also hit.<\/p>\n The Israeli military claimed it had begun striking \u201cHezbollah infrastructure\u201d in Beirut.<\/p>\n An AFP<\/em> journalist heard two loud explosions in the capital within half an hour early Saturday and saw smoke billowing from one of them.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s health ministry said on Thursday that 1,345 people had been killed \u2014 and 4,040 wounded \u2014 since the start of the war.<\/p>\n Hezbollah has not announced its losses.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2018Valuable reward\u2019<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/a>Fresh strikes<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Beirut explosions<\/h2>\n