U.S. forces on Saturday continued their search for an American crew member whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran on Friday, as the Israeli military struck a major petrochemical complex in Iran.
The search-and-rescue operation for the missing airman entered its second day after Iran brought down an Air Force F-15E fighter jet carrying two crew members. U.S. officials said on Friday that one had been rescued but have since offered no updates on the operation to recover the second airman.
President Trump has largely been silent on the issue. In a social media post on Saturday, he threatened to rain “hell” down on Iran if its leaders did not stop blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil route, but he never mentioned the missing crew member.
Here’s what else happened as the war entered its sixth week:
Iran: At least five people were killed and 170 others injured in airstrikes on a petrochemical hub in southwestern Iran, according to Iranian state media.
The area is known as the Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Economic Zone, and it is one of the country’s most important industrial centers for petrochemical production. The zone is in the Khuzestan province near the Persian Gulf.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, confirmed in a video statement that Israel had struck Iranian petrochemical factories. Mr. Netanyahu said the targeted sites were part of a “money machine” for the Iranian government.
The same day, at least one person was killed in a projectile strike near the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in southwest Iran, the country’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported. The explosion damaged an auxiliary building of the plant but did not affect operations, the agency said. The International Atomic Energy Agency said there was no increase in radiation levels but warned against attacks near nuclear power plants.
Lebanon: The Israeli military launched a new round of strikes across Lebanon overnight. Several civilians were killed in the southwestern city of Tyre, off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as Israel issued evacuation warnings for the area, Lebanon’s national news agency said. Israeli strikes also hit across Beirut, the Lebanese capital, and in its southern suburbs, an area known as Dahiya, where Hezbollah, the Iran-backed milia, exercises control.
Persian Gulf: Multiple U.S. allies around the Persian Gulf reported dozens of ballistic missile and drone attacks on Saturday. The United Arab Emirates intercepted 23 ballistic missiles and 56 drones from Iran in a span of 24 hours, according to a defense ministry statement on Saturday. Kuwait’s defense ministry reported eight missiles and 19 drone attacks.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, an Iranian military spokesman, said on Friday that Iraqi ships would be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely choked off from U.S. allies since the start of the war.
Israel: Israel said an Iranian missile lightly injured four people. Images posted by the Israeli ambulance service showed emergency workers approaching homes damaged in the attack.
Death tolls: As of Saturday, at least 1,616 civilians had been killed in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. At least 1,345 people in Lebanon have been killed, the country’s health ministry said Thursday. At least 17 people have been killed in Israel, while the American death toll stands at 13 service members, with hundreds of others wounded.