Reuters news agency has also reported that a search is under way for the crew of a US fighter jet shot down over Iran, citing US officials.
We will bring you more updates as we get it.
Iran shot down a US fighter jet, say officials - NYT
The New York Times has reported that Iran shot down a US fighter jet over the country, citing US officials and Iranian state-affiliated media.
As we reported earlier, Iran claimed that it had shot down a US fighter jet, with state media reporting it was an F-35 warplane.
According to the New York Times, the US has rushed to launch a search and rescue operation before Iran could get to any survivors, officials said. The fate of the crew remains unclear.
It follows reports by Iranian state media that the US military is searching for an American pilot of a downed aircraft in Iran, following earlier reports that Tehran had shot down a US F-35 fighter jet.
The reports could not be independently verified by the Guardian.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency claimed that the US military is searching for a pilot “of a fighter jet that was attacked by the Iranian armed forces this morning”. In an earlier report, it published photos purporting to show the wreckage of a downed US aircraft, although open source analysts suggest the plane in the images looked to be an F-15 jet.
Peter Layton, a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, told NBC News: “I think the structure looks like an F-15 and from the tail flash stripe markings from the 48th Fighter Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom.”
US officials have not publicly commented on the claims.
The Associated Press news agency reported that a channel affiliated with Iranian state television broadcast news of the pilot. The channel is in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, a rural and mountainous region that spans over 15,500 sq km (5,900 sq miles).
AP said the US Central Command, the Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In today’s episode of Today in Focus, the Guardian’s editor for rights and freedom, Tess McClure, reports on the US bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in southern Iran, and the families who lost loved ones in the attack.
“The impact of dropping a 2,000-plus pound bomb on a primary school full of children mostly seven to 12 years old and their teachers is just unimaginable,” Tess tells Nosheen Iqbal of the strike on the school in Minab on 28 February.
“The loss of 130-plus girls and about 30 teachers is just an incredible loss for those families. And I think what comes through as well when you listen to their voices, listen to them describing their children, is this incredible ordinariness of family life up until that moment that just has transformed all of their lives forever.”
Tess describes how 28 February unfolded for two of the families that suffered in the bombing, based on her reporting. She also explains the evidence that points to the United States being responsible for the tragedy.
You can listen to the episode here:
Analysis: is the US committing war crimes?
Donald Trump, other senior US officials and their cheerleaders appear to be embracing attacks – and threats of attacks – on Iranian civilian infrastructure, which legal experts say appears to constitute serious war crimes under international law.
In his rambling national address on Wednesday, the US president warned that if Iran did not reach an unspecified deal with him, US forces would “hit each and every one of their electric-generating plants” and “bring [Iran] back to the stone ages – where they belong”.
Following through on that threat a day later, Trump posted images of a strike on an the unfinished B1 bridge near Tehran, warning: “Much more to follow!”
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns said: “Intentionally attacking civilian infrastructure such as power plants is generally prohibited.
“Even in the limited cases that they qualify as military targets, a party still cannot attack power plants if this may cause disproportionate harm to civilians.
“Given that such power plants are essential for meeting the basic needs and livelihoods of tens of millions of civilians, attacking them would be disproportionate and thus unlawful under international humanitarian law, and could amount to a war crime.”
Read on here:
Trump claims US could 'easily' open up strait of Hormuz but needs 'more time'
Donald Trump has been posting on his social media platform, Truth Social.
On Iran, he has written:
With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE. IT WOULD BE A “GUSHER” FOR THE WORLD??? President DONALD J. TRUMP
As we mentioned earlier, Iran said earlier today that it had shot down an US fighter jet.
The Associated Press is now reporting that an affiliate of Iran state TV claims the fighter pilot ejected from an aircraft in southwest Iran.
AP said the US did not respond immediately to requests for comment over the claim.
We’ll bring you more on this when we get it…
Updated
The world has become well versed in the importance of the strait of Hormuz to the world’s energy flows, but attention is increasingly turning to its vital role in another market – the fertiliser on which harvests depend.
A third of the global trade in raw materials for fertiliser passes through the maritime choke point, which is also the route for 20% of shipments of natural gas, which is required to make it.
The waterway’s near-total shipping blockade is a “food security timebomb”, the head of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, said this week, adding: “The window to avert a massive global hunger crisis is rapidly closing.”
“Fertilisers are the No 1 issue of concern today,” according to the World Trade Organization, while the UN World Food Programme says the total number of people facing acute levels of hunger could hit record numbers this year if the destabilising conflict continues.
So how worried should we be? You can read our visual guide to the crisis here:
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Half of Iran’s missile launchers still intact – report
US intelligence has assessed that roughly half of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers are still intact despite over a month of US and Israeli strikes against military targets in the country, CNN has reported, citing three sources familiar with the intelligence.
Some of the launchers may not be accessible at present, such as those buried underground by strikes but not destroyed, according to the report. Still, Iran is “very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region”, one source said.
US intelligence assessments have also indicated that Iran still has thousands of one-way attack drones in its arsenal and “a large percentage” of its coastal defence cruise missiles, which play a key role in Tehran’s threats to shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
The findings are at odds with Donald Trump’s claims earlier this week that Iran’s ability to launch missile and drone attacks have been “dramatically curtailed” and that the war was “nearing completion”.
The White House and the Pentagon denied the report.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has denied responsibility for the attack on a Kuwaiti power and water desalination plant, blaming it instead on Israel.
In a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, the IRGC’s public relations department said:
The Zionist regime’s unconventional and illegitimate attack on Kuwait’s desalination plants is a sign of the vileness and baseness of the Zionist occupiers, and the Revolutionary Guards condemn this inhumane act and declare that American bases and military personnel in the region and the Zionist regime’s military and security centres in the occupied Palestinian territories are our powerful targets.
In a statement earlier today, the Kuwait ministry of electricity, water and renewable energy said an Iranian attack had damaged the plant.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has condemned the “reckless” Iranian attack that set an oil refinery ablaze in Kuwait, in a call with the country’s crown prince.
A Downing Street readout of the conversation said:
The prime minister spoke to his highness the Crown Prince of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah this morning.
The prime minister began by condemning the reckless overnight drone attack on a Kuwaiti oil refinery.
He reiterated that the UK stands with Kuwait and all our allies in the Gulf.
They discussed the deployment of the UK’s rapid sentry air defence system to Kuwait, which will protect Kuwaiti and British personnel and interests in the region, while avoiding escalation into wider conflict.
Regarding ongoing disruption to global shipping through the strait of Hormuz, the prime minister and crown prince welcomed the meeting convened by the foreign secretary yesterday on a viable plan to reopen the Strait.
They agreed to continue to work together on this and stay in close contact over the coming weeks.
Summary of attacks in the Middle East as war nears 6th week
Several Gulf nations came under missile and drone attacks throughout the night and this morning as the US-Israeli war on Iran entered its 35th day.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Kuwait
The state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said the Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery was struck by Iranian drones, sparking fires at the facility. The oil refinery has been hit multiple times during the war.
Kuwait also said that an Iranian attack caused “material damage” to a power and water desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states.
Bahrain
Bahrain’s interior ministry said that sirens sounded three times overnight. It urged people to head to the nearest safest location, without providing further details. Sirens are normally activated when potential threats or attacks are detected.
UAE
Authorities in Abu Dhabi reported two incidents of debris falling from intercepted aerial threats in the UAE capital.
The official Abu Dhabi Media Office said authorities responded to an incident of falling debris at the Habshan gas facilities. “Operations have been suspended while authorities respond to a fire,” it said in a post on X, adding that no injuries were reported.
A separate incident of falling debris was reported in the Ajban area “following successful interception by air defence systems”, the media office said, without providing further details.
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi defence ministry announced on X that it intercepted and destroyed more than a dozen drones overnight and this morning, without providing further details.
Elsewhere:
Iran reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan. A newly constructed bridge connecting the Iranian capital and the nearby city of Karaj was heavily damaged from a US bombing.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it detected a ballistic attack from Iran targeting northern Israel earlier today. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said one person was injured in a missile attack in Kiryat Ata, near Haifa.
The IDF has killed 15 members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group following an attack on southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee. Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the claim.
Updated
UK to deploy air defence system to Kuwait
The UK will deploy its Rapid Sentry air defence system to Kuwait to help protect British and Kuwaiti interests in the Gulf, Keir Starmer’s office said.
The UK prime minister discussed the deployment in a call with Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, this morning, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The prime minister began by condemning the reckless overnight drone attack on a Kuwaiti oil refinery,” the spokesperson said. “He reiterated that the UK stands with Kuwait and all our allies in the Gulf.”
The Rapid Sentry is a ground-based short-range air defence system aimed at countering drone threats.
All Easter masses in Dubai have been cancelled because of the Middle East war, AFP news agency reported.
In a statement on its website, the St Francis of Assisi Church at Jebel Ali in Dubai said “all Masses at our Church are cancelled until further notice” as per government directives. The Jebel Ali coastal area has been hit several times by missiles and drones fired by Iran, after its port was designated a “legitimate target” due to alleged US military presence.
St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dubai published a similar announcement on its website, and said Good Friday’s mass would be livestreamed online instead.
Human remains have been found onboard the Thai-flagged cargo ship that was hit by unknown projectiles in the strait of Hormuz in March.
Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement a specialised search and rescue team had boarded the vessel, Mayuree Naree, for a second time and carried out a detailed inspection of accessible areas. The vessel has sustained damage from fire and was flooded in the engine room and nearby areas, it said.
“The team found human remains in the damaged area on board, but has not been able to verify or identify those remains,” the ministry said, adding that the owner of the vessel, Precious Shipping PLC, had informed the families of the crew members of the development.
“The ministry is saddened by this development and will coordinate closely with the relevant Thai embassies, the Iranian side and related agencies in order to receive the results of any forensic identification conducted at the earliest possible opportunity. The ministry will provide further updates in due course,” it said in a statement.
Reuters news agency reported a container ship belonging to French shipping group CMA CGM has passed through the strait of Hormuz, according to the French television network BFM TV.
It was not immediately clear how the vessel secured safe passage through the strait, which has been effectively closed since the beginning of the Middle East war on 28 February.
Reuters said CMA CGM did not immediately respond to a request for comment while France’s foreign ministry declined.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images on the newswires from across the Middle East:
‘Every night they are bombarding’: at border crossing, some Iranians are fleeing war and some are heading home
He could not help but splutter out a laugh at the question. Amir, whose name has been changed for his safety, had just crossed the Kapıköy border point in eastern Turkey, a mountain pass between snow-topped peaks that is one of the few gateways to the west from Iran.
Until a few weeks ago, this was a busy place, popular among Iranian daytrippers coming across to Turkey to do some shopping in the lively city of Van, a further two hours drive west, or to spend a couple of nights out in its discreet Iranian-only nightclubs and bars serving alcohol.
Back then, there had been plenty of reasons that an Iranian might give for making this trip. But today, just about visible behind Amir, was the lifeless black flag raised a month ago by the Iranian regime after the death under US and Israeli strikes of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
“Why? Amir asked back with a smile when questioned as to his motivation for leaving Iran. “Boom,” he responded. “Because of the war. Every night they are bombarding.”
Not that Amir, who had come from Tehran, was bitter about the American and Israeli campaign. “We must want to get rid of the regime,” he said. “Thank you to Trump,” he added with a weary nod of the head.
You can read the full report here:
Authorities in Abu Dhabi have reported two incidents of debris falling from intercepted aerial threats in the UAE capital, with one sparking a fire at a gas facility,
The official Abu Dhabi Media Office said authorities responded to an incident of falling debris at the Habshan gas facilities. “Operations have been suspended while authorities respond to a fire,” it said in a post on X, adding that no injuries were reported.
About five minutes later, it reported a separate incident of falling debris in the Ajban area “following successful interception by air defence systems”, without providing further details.
Iran strikes power and water desalination plant in Kuwait
An Iranian attack hit a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait this morning, causing material damage to parts of the facility, the country’s ministry of electricity, water and renewable energy said.
In a statement on X, the ministry said emergency and technical teams were at the scene to maintain operations and secure the site.
Kuwait and other Gulf nations have been bearing the brunt of Iranian strikes since war erupted on 28 February. Iranian drones struck Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery earlier today, sparking fires at the facility. In Bahrain, the country’s interior ministry reported sirens sounding overnight as it told people to head “to the nearest safe place”.
Updated
Here are some images on the newswires of the bridge in Iran that was targeted by US airstrikes:
Donald Trump warned last night that the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran”, as he threatened bridges would be targeted next, “then electric power plants”.
He posted a video on his Truth Social app of the US bombing a newly constructed bridge between the Iranian capital Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj, which was scheduled to open to traffic this year. According to Iran’s state media, eight people were killed and 95 others were wounded in the attack.
“Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender,” the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said.
Javad Zarif shared his peace plan in a post on X, writing:
As an Iranian, outraged by Donald Trump’s reckless aggression & crude insults, yet proud of our armed forces & resilient people, I am torn about publishing this peace-plan in Foreign Affairs. Yet I’m convinced that war must end on terms consistent with Iran’s national interests.
Former Iranian foreign minister proposes peace plan to end war
Javad Zarif, the former Iranian foreign minister, has proposed a peace plan in an article in the US publication Foreign Affairs.
Zarif, a professor at the University of Tehran who also served as vice-president, suggested Iran should “declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one”.
Here are some of the terms in his plan:
Iran commit to never seeking nuclear weapons and “down-blend” its stock of enriched uranium below 3.67%, the level set by the 2015 nuclear deal Donald Trump pulled the US out of in 2018.
To include China and Russia in any deal to establish a single uranium enrichment site for the region, where Iran “would transfer all its enriched material and equipment to that space”.
The US and allies drop all sanctions against Iran and allow the country to fully participate in the global economy.
Reopen the strait of Hormuz, but the US must allow Tehran to use the key shipping route too.
Iran and the US sign a nonagression pact “in which both countries pledge to not strike each other in the future”.
While Zarif has no official position in Iran’s government, he helped get reformist president Masoud Pezeshkian elected and has been described as a target of hardliners within the country’s theocracy. Associated Press reported that Zarif would not have been able to publish the Foreign Affairs article without at least running the positions past senior members of the Iranian leadership.
It remains unclear how the US president would respond to the proposal, particularly as Zarif referred to Trump’s close friend Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as “completely illiterate on both geopolitics and nuclear technicalities”. Witkoff and Kushner led US nuclear negotiations with Iran, holding talks less than 48 hours before the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February.
Updated
Iran armed forces says US fighter jet shot down over Iran
Iran has said a second US F-35 fighter jet has been shot down over Iran, with the state news agency saying it’s unlikely the pilot survived, Reuters reports.
The incident comes as Iran has been firing on targets across the Middle East, on Friday, including firing missiles at Israel and Bahrain, and setting alight an oil refinery in Kuwait with drone attacks.
Last month, the US military said in a statement that a US F-35 aircraft conducted an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran. The military said the pilot of that jet was in stable condition.
A spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya central HQ said on Friday the second F-35 jet was shot down over central Iran by Revolutionary Guard air defences, with low chances of pilot survival, Reuters reported.
There was no immediate comment from the US, and the Guardian has not been able to confirm the report.
Updated
Iran warns against 'provocative action' before UN security council vote on Hormuz strait
Iran has warned the UN security council against “provocative action” ahead of a vote on the use of “defensive force” to protect shipping in the strait of Hormuz, reports AFP.
The security council had already postponed the vote, scheduled for Friday, on authorizing the use of such force to protect shipping in the strait from Iranian attacks, according to the official program.
The 15-member body was set to vote Friday morning on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain, but by Thursday night the schedule shifted. The reason given was that the United Nations observes Good Friday as a public holiday, according to diplomatic sources – despite this fact being known when the vote was first announced.
“Any provocative action by the aggressors and their supporters, including in the UN security council regarding the situation in the strait of Hormuz, will only complicate the situation,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
Updated
Oil refinery hit in Kuwait
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by drones early on Friday, setting off fires at several operating units, according to the state news agency.
Emergency teams are reportedly still trying to put out the fires, but no injuries have been reported.
Updated
Video emerges of Trump again mocking Starmer
Donald Trump has again mocked the UK’s Sir Keir Starmer as weak and had a fresh dig at the UK’s navy as Britain leads diplomatic efforts to reopen the critical strait of Hormuz shipping lane, closed by the Iran war.
In a video that has emerged from a private Easter White House lunch, the US president impersonated the British prime minister as he recounted Sir Keir saying he had to ask his team about sending “two old broken-down aircraft carriers” to the Middle East.
Mr Trump said Britain “should be our best” ally, but had not been, in his latest sideswipe over the UK’s refusal to be drawn into the conflict with Tehran. It is not the first time Trump has criticised the UK’s aircraft carriers, having previously dismissed them as “toys” that “aren’t the best”.
Updated
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran, the crisis in the Middle East and its wider repercussions around the world.
US President Donald Trump warned late on Thursday about striking and destroying bridges and electric power plants in Iran in his latest threat to hit the country’s infrastructure.
The US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants,” Trump wrote on social media. His post said that Iran’s leadership “knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!”
Here is a summary of recent developments. Stay with us for the latest news.
Trump shared footage on his Truth Social of a bridge strike near Tehran that reportedly killed at least eight people, and appeared to take US responsibility for the attack. He warned there was “much more to follow” and urged Tehran to “make a deal before it is too late”. Strikes hit the B1 bridge between Karaj and Tehran on Thursday, which had already been hit around an hour earlier, Iranian state TV reported.
The UN security council has postponed a vote scheduled for Friday on authorizing the use of “defensive” force to protect shipping in the strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks, according to the official program. The 15-member body was set to vote Friday morning on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain, but by Thursday night the schedule shifted. The reason given was that the United Nations observes Good Friday as a public holiday, according to diplomatic sources – despite this fact being known when the vote was first announced.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has hit out at Donald Trump, saying he was undermining Nato by creating “daily doubt about his commitment” to the alliance. Macron said: “You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t go around saying the opposite every day of what you just said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day.” The US president, in interviews to various media yesterday, made disparaging comments about Nato, calling it a “paper tiger” and threatening to pull the US out of the alliance.
The UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper convened a virtual meeting of more than 40 countries on the strait of Hormuz crisis on Thursday, in which officials from every continent discussed possible ways to increase pressure on Iran to reopen the critical waterway.
Randy George, the US army’s top officer, is stepping down from his role after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, reportedly requested that he retire immediately. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that George, who had been serving as the army’s 41st chief of staff, was retiring.
Iran is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic in the strait of Hormuz, the official IRNA news agency cited deputy foreign minister Kezem Gharibabadi as saying. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, apparently told Sputnik, the Russian government-owned news agency, that Iran has nearly completed its draft protocol, which would establish a new navigation regime in the strait of Hormuz.
UN secretary general António Guterres warned that the Middle East conflict risked spiralling into a wider war, as he called for an immediate halt to US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian attacks on its neighbours. “We are on the edge of a wider war that would engulf the Middle East with dramatic impacts around the globe,” he said in New York.
Wall Street’s main indexes pared declines and were muted on Thursday, in the last session of the week, as investors assessed latest indications that energy shipping through the strait of Hormuz could be restored. Iran was drafting a protocol with Oman for traffic through the Strait, its foreign ministry said. Britain also said that about 40 countries are discussing joint action to reopen the strait to stop Iran from holding “the global economy hostage.”
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has warned that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem would pay an “extraordinarily heavy price” for escalating attacks during the ongoing Jewish holidays. “I have a clear message for Naim Qassem … you and your associates will pay an extraordinarily heavy price for the intensified rocket fire directed at Israeli citizens as they gathered to celebrate Passover Seder,” Katz said in a video statement.
Germany and China both want to restore the freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz and agree that individual states must not control sea lanes or levy tolls for passage, the foreign ministry in Berlin said on Thursday. China can exert its influence on Iran to bring about a negotiated solution and an end to hostilities against the Gulf states, added the ministry.
The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, said there was no end in sight to the war that has killed hundreds of people and left a million more displaced. Marking one month since Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war, with the Israeli military fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants along the southern Lebanese border, Salam said his country was committed to “employing all available means to stop the war”.
The Philippines said Iran has pledged to allow safe passage of oil shipments through the strait of Hormuz. Officials said a “productive phone conversation” between the Philippine foreign secretary, Theresa Lazaro, and her Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, had opened the door to crucial oil shipments.
Strikes in Iran have caused extensive damage to a century-old medical centre in the capital Tehran, the country’s health ministry spokesperson said. “The aggression against Pasteur Institute of Iran – a century-old pillar of global health and member of International Pasteur Network – is a direct assault on international health security,” Hossein Kermanpour wrote in a post on X, with images of a heavily damaged building.
