Here's the latest
• US aircraft downed: The status of a US service member remains unknown after an F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran. The jet’s other crew member was rescued, US sources told CNN. In a separate incident, a US military plane was struck by Iran, according to a US official. The US has now lost at least seven manned aircraft during the war.
• Rescue operation: US forces have launched search and rescue efforts for the service member from the downed F-15, according to sources. Meanwhile, Tehran has promised a reward for Iranians who find them and hand them over.
• Strikes continue: Multiple petrochemical companies in southwestern Iran have been hit, state media reported. At least one person was killed in an attack in Tehran, Iranian state media said. And the Israeli military said rescue teams were heading for sites in central Israel after “reports of impact.”
Steel, concrete and chemicals: Iran's industrial base under growing attack
As the Middle East conflict enters its sixth week, a growing range of Iranian industries are being targeted by US-Israeli strikes, including steel plants, cement factories and petrochemical complexes.
Saturday saw multiple attacks on petrochemical plants in southern Iran, some of them associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Mahshahr and Bandar Imam petrochemical complexes are at the heart of Iran’s industrial economy, and a major source of export revenue.
They process gas and oil into chemicals used in plastics, fertilizers, and other essential industries.
There was also an attack on a cement factory in Hormozgan province, according to a local official, who said that the plant continued to operate, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Over the past few days, several harbors in southern Iran have also been targeted, according to state media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Friday that Israeli strikes had destroyed 70% of Iran’s steel production capacity, a figure CNN is unable to verify.
A second attack on the huge Mobarakeh Steel Complex in Esfahan late Wednesday inflicted “fundamental destruction” and brought production lines “to a complete halt,” the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
“Under these circumstances, continuing operations is not possible,” Fars said.
Dutch police investigate blast at pro-Israel center
Dutch police are investigating an overnight explosion that a pro-Israel organization said targeted its center in the Netherlands.
Police said the blast, which took place in Nijkerk near Amsterdam, caused only limited damage. No one was injured and no arrests have been made, police posted on X. The group Christians for Israel said the explosion targeted its Israel Center in Nijkerk.
It is unclear if the overnight attack is linked to the Iran war, but Israel’s foreign ministry said last month that an “antisemitism epidemic is raging” in the Netherlands after an explosion struck at a Jewish school in Amsterdam amid the escalating regional violence in the Middle East.
Security in the capital city had been heightened following similar incidents in the Dutch city of Rotterdam and Liège in neighboring Belgium, the City of Amsterdam said at the time.
US service member missing, as Iran suffers heavy bombardment
As we’ve been reporting, two US aircraft were downed in the Middle East yesterday in two separate incidents. A senior Iranian military commander said forces are “hunting” American aircraft, using new methods and equipment.
Both the US and Iran are looking for a service member who was onboard one of the planes. Here are the latest developments:
- US forces have launched search and rescue efforts for a downed F-15 fighter jet, two sources said. One of two crew members was rescued and is receiving medical attention in US custody, according to sources. The status of the other service member is unknown.
- An A-10 Thunderbolt II, nicknamed the Warthog, was also struck by Iran yesterday, forcing the pilot to eject, according to a US official. The pilot was able to fly the plane out of Iranian territory before ejecting, and was subsequently rescued, the official said.
- US President Donald Trump told NBC News that the downing of the F-15 fighter jet would not affect any negotiations with Iran, while declining to discuss the ongoing search and rescue mission for it.
- Yesterday, Israel postponed some of its planned strikes in Iran so they wouldn’t interfere with search and rescue efforts for the crew members aboard the fighter jet that was shot down, an Israeli official told CNN.
- Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, mocked the United States’ search for the F-15’s missing crew member.
Meanwhile, the conflict across the region persists. Here are the very latest developments:
- A projectile hit the perimeter of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant this morning, killing one person, according to Iran’s state news agency Tasnim.
- Multiple petrochemical company facilities in southwestern Iran’s Khuzestan Province sustained damage in aerial attacks this morning, according to Iranian state media.
- The UN Security Council has postponed a vote on a resolution to secure transit passage in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported, citing diplomats.
- Indonesia has expressed “grave concern” after three Indonesian peacekeepers were injured in southern Lebanon yesterday while serving with United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
CNN’s Xiaoqian Lin, Kevin Liptak, Michael Rios, Todd Symons, Kit Maher, Tal Shalev, Lauren Kent, Tim Lister, Sophie Tanno and Ibrahim Dahman contributed to this reporting.
Five EU finance ministers call for tax on energy windfall profits, Reuters reports
Five EU finance ministers have called for a tax on energy companies’ windfall profits in response to the rising energy costs due to the Iran war, according to Reuters.
The measure would send a clear message to those who “profit from the consequences of the war,” according to a letter from the ministers of Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Portugal to the European Commission, as seen by Reuters.
The proposed tax would send a message that “we stand united and are able to take action,” they wrote.
The letter, dated Friday, did not detail what level of windfall tax the ministers were proposing, or which companies it should affect.
It comes as oil and gas prices have spiked in the bloc since the US and Israel’s war with Iran.
Dan Jørgensen, in charge of energy and housing at the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, warned in an interview with the Financial Times published yesterday that prices could be high for a long time.
Area near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant attacked, Iranian state media says
A projectile hit the perimeter of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant this morning, killing one person, according to Iranian state media agency Tasnim.
The projectile damaged a building near the power plant, killing a security staff member, Tasnim said.
While the UN’s nuclear watchdog said there was no reported rise in radiation levels, it cautioned against striking nuclear power plants and called for “maximum military restraint to avoid risk of a nuclear accident.”
It marks the fourth time the site has been targeted since the war began. Projectiles have struck the area around the Bushehr nuclear power plant multiple times this month, Iranian authorities previously said.
It is Iran’s only functioning nuclear power plant.
CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Iran’s "new" regime looks much the same, only more hardline
US President Donald Trump said this week that Iran’s new leadership is “less radical and much more reasonable.” Trump and the Pentagon have repeatedly claimed that regime change has happened.
But what most political scientists and analysts would consider regime change involves an outside power transforming how a country is governed, not merely replacing the people at the top of that system.
If anything, experts say the war has given more power to the hardline military factions inside the complex system of Iranian governance, as well as bolstered anti-American sentiments.
Analysts also say this hardened regime is expected to double down on the repression of its own citizens. The Revolutionary Guards still maintain control over both the “guns and money” needed to suppress internal dissent, according to Yacoubian.
Ali Vaez, Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, told CNN: “This is a wounded regime, and if it survives, it is not going to give an inch to its population, at least not anytime soon.”
Iranian petrochemical companies attacked, Iranian state media says
Multiple petrochemical companies in southwestern Iran’s Khuzestan Province sustained damage to their facilities in aerial attacks this morning, according to Iranian state media.
Fighter jets targeted the Bu Ali petrochemical complex as well as the Bandar Imam petrochemical complex, where parts of the facility were damaged, Iran’s state-run Tasnim News Agency reported. The Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Zone was also hit in a series of strikes, according to Tasnim.
The companies are considered subsidiaries of the large Iranian petrochemical holding group, Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), which the US says is the engineering conglomerate of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The subsidiaries were were sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2019.
A law enforcement official in Khuzestan Province, Valiollah Hayati, said there is a “strong potential of casualties” following the attacks by the US and Israel, according to Tasnim.
The reported attacks come after one of the largest steel plants in Iran was struck in the city of Esfahan late Wednesday, according to state media, further depleting key infrastructure.
Some context: Petrochemicals are a core industry in Iran, supporting many other sectors of the manufacturing economy, including plastics, fertilizers and other everyday products.
UN Security Council postpones vote on Strait of Hormuz
The UN Security Council is now expected to vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to secure transit passage in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported on Friday, citing diplomats.
The vote was initially set to take place yesterday, then rescheduled for today. Several diplomats now say the vote has been postponed until next week with no new date set, according to Reuters.
Bahrain’s UN mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reason for the delay, said the news agency.
The draft resolution, if adopted, would authorize countries to use “all defensive means necessary” to secure transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz. It would authorize naval action in the strait, which has been effectively closed since the start of the war.
The proposed move has reportedly faced resistance from China, Russia and others.
It would be “legitimizing the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences,” Reuters reported China’s UN envoy Fu Cong as saying on Thursday.
US combat aircraft struck by Iran
CNN’s Jim Sciutto reports as a US military plane — an A-10 Thunderbolt II — was struck by Iran yesterday, forcing the pilot to eject, according to a US official familiar with the matter.
We’ve reached out to the US Central Command for comment.
A second US military plane — an A-10 Thunderbolt II — was struck by Iran on Friday, forcing the pilot to eject, according to a US official familiar with the matter. CNN has reached out to the US Central Command for comment. CNN's Jim Sciutto reports on the details.
Indonesia expresses "grave concern" after peacekeepers injured in Lebanon
Indonesia has expressed “grave concern” after three peacekeepers of Indonesian nationality were injured in southern Lebanon on Friday while serving with United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
A spokesperson for the UNIFIL mission said yesterday the three peacekeepers were injured, two of them seriously, in an explosion.
“This marks the third serious incident involving Indonesian peacekeepers in less than a week,” the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a post on X.
The ministry called on the UN Security Council to address the issue urgently, and on UNIFIL-contributing countries to convene a meeting to review and strengthen force protection measures.
Separately, last Monday, UNIFIL said two of its peacekeepers were killed in the same region when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle.
Since March 1, fighting between the Israeli military and Iranian-backed Hezbollah has sharply escalated in southern Lebanon, amid an expanded Israeli ground operation and worsening humanitarian conditions.
Iranian commander says "innovations" in air defenses helped bring down US jets
A senior Iranian military commander has said the country’s forces are “hunting” American aircraft using new methods and equipment. His comments came as two US military jets were downed on the same day.
Yesterday, a US Air Force F-15 was shot down over Iran, with a crew member still missing, while an A-10 Thunderbolt II was struck and crashed just after leaving Iranian territory.
Brigadier General Alireza Elhami, commander of Iran’s Joint Air Defense Base, said the loss of the US aircraft was “the result of tactics, the use of modern equipment, and innovations in (Iran’s) air defense systems,” the state-affiliated IRNA news agency reported. Elhami did not elaborate on what those innovations were.
“This has caused confusion and bewilderment for the enemy,” he said.
The F-15 is the first manned US aircraft known to have been shot down over Iran during the conflict.
How survival training prepares US fighter jet crew for enemy fire
CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton explains how survival training prepares US fighter jet aircrews for enemy fire — like in the recent downing of a US F-15 in Iran.
CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton explains how survival training prepares US fighter jet aircrews for enemy fire—like in the recent downing of a US F-15 in Iran.
As war drags on, the global oil crisis is turning into an everything crisis
One month into the war in Iran, a growing shortage of crude oil is threatening to morph into something worse: a shortage of nearly everything.
The conflict in the Middle East has crimped oil and natural gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz, reducing global supply by about one-fifth. The disruption has not only sent fuel prices soaring, but has squeezed supplies of petrochemicals needed to make everyday items like shoes, clothing and plastic bags.
The war in Iran is reshaping industries, with oil prices surging as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted. CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout explains how the energy crisis is affecting plastic products in South Korea, from supply chains to everyday consumer goods.
That strain is now spreading into every corner of the consumer market as prices rise for materials like plastic, rubber and polyester. The impact is so far most evident in Asia, which accounts for more than half of the world’s manufacturing and is heavily reliant on imports for oil and other commodities.
“This spills into everything very, very quickly: beer, noodles, chips, toys, cosmetics,” said Dan Martin, co-head of business intelligence at Dezan Shira & Associates, an advisory firm that helps international businesses expand in Asia.
That’s because plastic caps, crates, snack bags and containers are becoming more difficult to procure. Petroleum derivatives are also needed to make adhesives for footwear and furniture, industrial lubricants for machinery and solvents for paints and cleaning processes, Martin added.
Read how the shortage of crude oil is straining the consumer market.
US Air Force has now lost at least seven aircraft in Iran war
The losses of a US Air Force F-15 and an A-10 in separate incidents on Friday bring the known toll of manned aircraft destroyed in the war with Iran to seven.
A look at how the other five aircraft were lost:
- March 2: Three F-15s were downed by Kuwaiti air defenses in a “friendly fire” incident over Kuwait. All six crew members ejected safely, and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week that the three pilots had returned to action in raids on Iran.
- March 12: Six US air crew were killed when their KC-135 jet tanker crashed in Iraq. The US military said the refueling aircraft was not downed by hostile or friendly fire, but was involved in an incident with another aircraft while participating in Operation Epic Fury. The second aircraft landed safely, it said.
- March 27: A US Air Force E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft was destroyed on the tarmac in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, photos geolocated by CNN show. CNN reported that an attack on the air base left at least 10 US service members injured. No fatalities were reported. A US Air Force tanker aircraft was also damaged, sources said.
Additionally, a US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at a US air base in the Middle East last month after it was struck by what is believed to have been Iranian fire, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
This post has been updated to correct the date the E-3 Sentry was destroyed.
Music school in Tehran "wiped out" by strike
A music school in Tehran had been a safe haven for Iranians young and old, before it was destroyed by an air strike during the US-Israeli war with Iran. The destruction has been devastating for the schools owners, staff and students.
A music school in Tehran had been a safe haven for Iranians young and old, before it was destroyed by an air strike during the US-Israeli war with Iran. The destruction has been devastating for the schools owners, staff and students.
Debris falls on Dubai office of US tech giant Oracle
Debris from an aerial intercept fell on the façade of the office of tech giant Oracle in Dubai, the city’s government media office said Saturday.
No injuries were reported in what the office called a “minor incident.”
Some context: Oracle was one of 17 US tech companies Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to attack earlier this week if US and Israeli strikes kill more Iranian leaders, according to the semi-official Fars news outlet.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is an ally of US President Donald Trump, who last month named Ellison to his newly formed President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Iranian state media reports at least one killed in north Tehran missile attack
At least one person was killed in a “missile attack” in a residential area of northern Tehran Saturday morning, according to Iranian state-affiliated Mehr News.
In a video report, a news correspondent shows several blown-out cars and a pool of blood on the road, said to be in north Tehran.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said early Saturday it was providing emergency assistance to an area in north Tehran in the wake of overnight strikes.
A video posted by the humanitarian organization showed a building blackened and gutted by an attack.
What we know about the two US aircraft downed in the Middle East
A US F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran, three US sources said on Friday.
And in a separate incident on the same day, a US military A-10 Thunderbolt was struck, according to a US official familiar with the matter.
Here’s what we know so far about the two aircraft:
About the F-15
US forces have launched search and rescue efforts for the downed fighter jet, two sources said. One of two crew members has been rescued and is receiving medical attention in US custody, according to sources. The status of the other service member is unknown.
One of the US sources also confirmed the aircraft was an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet.
Video geolocated by CNN showed multiple low-flying military aircraft over Khuzestan province in central Iran as part of an apparent search and rescue operation.
It’s the first time a manned US aircraft has been shot down over Iran during the conflict. Near the beginning of the war, three F-15s were mistakenly shot down in a friendly fire incident by Kuwaiti air defenses.
About the A-10
An A-10 Thunderbolt II, nicknamed the Warthog, was struck by Iran on Friday, forcing the pilot to eject, according to a US official familiar with the matter.
The pilot was able to fly the plane out of Iranian territory before ejecting, and was subsequently rescued, the official said.
Iran’s military claimed to have hit the aircraft, saying it crashed into the Persian Gulf after Iran’s air defense systems targeted it near the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported, citing a statement from the army’s public relations office.
Kevin Liptak, Michael Rios, Haley Britzky, Alayna Treene, Allegra Goodwin, Brad Lendon, Isaac Yee and Kristen Holmes contributed reporting.
US, Iran are looking for missing service member from downed fighter jet. Here's the latest
A US F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran Friday, three US sources said, confirming Iranian state media reports. Another US military plane – an A-10 ground-attack jet – was struck by Iran on the same day.
US forces rescued one of the crew members of the downed F-15, according to sources familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, Iranian state media urged citizens to look for the missing crew member and promised rewards for handing them over.
Here’s what you should know:
- More on the F-15: US President Donald Trump told NBC News that the downing of the jet would not affect any negotiations with Iran, while declining to discuss the ongoing search and rescue mission. Tehran has claimed responsibility for shooting down the F-15 and an Iranian news anchor told viewers: “If you capture and hand over a pilot or pilots of the enemy alive… you will receive a valuable reward and prize.”
- More attacks: At least one person was killed in a missile attack in a residential area of northern Tehran, according to Iranian state-affiliated Mehr News. And the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that search and rescue teams were on the way to sites in central Israel where there were “reports of impact.”
- Strait of Hormuz: Next week, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on a Bahraini resolution to secure transit passage in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported, citing diplomats. The vote was initially set for Friday, then rescheduled for Saturday.
- Food prices: Global food prices rose 2.4% in March from February, driven largely by higher energy costs, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said.
CNN’s Lex Harvey, Kocha Olarn, Ibrahim Daman, Sana Noor Haq, Olesya Dmitracova, Mustafa Qadri, Maisie Linford, Sophie Tanno, Matthew Chance, Kevin Liptak, Jeremy Diamond, Haley Britzky, Alayna Treene, Allegra Goodwin, Elise Hammond, Isaac Yee, Leila Gharagozlou, Tal Shalev, Michael Rios, Brad Lendon and Kit Maher contributed reporting.
This deal between US and developing nations kickstarted Iran’s nuclear program
President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program was a deal between the US and developing nations, which unknowingly laid the foundations for one of the most controversial nuclear programs in the world. CNN’s Leila Gharagozlou reports.
President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program was a deal between the US and developing nations, which unknowingly laid the foundations for one of the most controversial nuclear programs in the world. CNN’s Leila Gharagozlou reports.
