Iran-US war latest: Urgent search for missing American pilot as Tehran claims to have downed second plane

Iran has executed two more members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq group, bringing the total number executed since the start of the war to six, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency said today.

Abul-Hassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amirian were hanged after being convicted of “being members of a terrorist group”. Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge the accusations they face.

US congressman Ro Khanna has accused Donald Trump of threatening war crimes by targeting electricity plants and civilian infrastructure in Iran.

“Trump is threatening war crimes. You cannot strike electricity plants. You cannot strike civilian targets. We don’t do that as a United States of America. We are supposed to follow international law. That’s the type of things that Vladimir Putin does. That’s the war crimes that Netanyahu committed,” Khanna told CNN.

The Democrat also warned that Mr Trump’s escalatory rhetoric was putting the missing service member and all US troops in the region at greater risk of retaliation.

In a brief Friday phone interview with The Independent, the president declined to say what his course of action might be if Iranian forces get to the downed airman — the first American aviator to be shot down over enemy territory since an A-10 “Warthog” pilot ejected into Iraq after being struck by a surface-to-air missile in April 2003, just weeks into Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The US military confirmed it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, according to a Pentagon email obtained by AP Iranian state media claimed Iran’s military shot down a US F-15E Strike Eagle over southwest Iran; the F-15E carries a two-person crew — a pilot and a weapons system officer One crew member has been rescued, according to one US and one Israeli official; the status of the second crew member is unknown A second US Air Force combat aircraft — identified by Iranian state media as an A-10, known as the Warthog — also went down on Friday; it is a single-seat aircraft Israel has halted airstrikes in areas “relevant” to the rescue effort and is assisting with intelligence, though is not involved in any on-the-ground rescue The White House called a “lid” at 4pm EST, indicating Mr Trump would not be making any public appearance; Mr Trump told NBC News the incident would not affect negotiations with Iran, saying: “It’s war” Four US military aircraft had already gone down during the war before Friday, including three F-15Es hit by friendly Kuwaiti fire and a refuelling tanker that crashed in Iraq, killing all six crew members

The ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee has warned that if Iran has captured a US service member, it would fundamentally alter the course of the war and any potential negotiations.

“If the Iranians have an American service member hostage, that totally changes the negotiations. It gives them a leverage point and makes it more difficult to resolve this conflict,” Representative Adam Smith told CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront.

Mr Smith, who said he opposed the war from the start, warned the asymmetry of the conflict was a fundamental problem. “All Iran has to have is a few missiles, a few drones, and enough resources to continue to support their proxies in order to survive,” he said. “That’s why I thought this war was a mistake in the first place.”

He also questioned what a negotiated settlement would look like, saying there was “no evidence” Iran was begging for a deal despite Mr Trump’s claims, and flagged rumours that vice president JD Vance was trying to negotiate a brief ceasefire “but on what terms?”

The Israeli military said this morning it had begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Beirut, as it also claimed to hit a launcher in southern Lebanon used to fire rockets toward northern Israel earlier in the evening.

The IDF said a Hezbollah rocket had struck a UN peacekeeping position in the Al-Adaysa area of southern Lebanon, injuring three UNIFIL personnel, two of them seriously. “The terrorist organization Hezbollah continues to operate while endangering international forces and harming UN personnel,” the military said.

A US congressman has accused the Pentagon of blocking Congress from receiving information about a downed US aircraft and a missing service member in Iran, saying lawmakers have been left relying on public news reports.

“The Pentagon and Trump have made a decision not to keep the House of Representatives and the Senate informed about what’s going on,” Representative John Garamendi told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “Basically they’ve stonewalled us.”

Mr Garamendi said Congress had received “virtually nothing” from the Pentagon about the incident. “We reached out to our professional staff on the committee, and they’ve not heard anything other than the normal reporting,” he said.

He added that his thoughts were with the missing airman and those involved in the rescue operation. “It’s very, very dangerous, not only for the airman that’s been shot down, but also for those that are risking their life to try to rescue that individual.”

Dubai authorities say no fire or injuries were reported after debris fell on the facade of a building in the city’s Marina area following an aerial interception, the emirate’s media office just said.

John Bolton, former national security adviser to Donald Trump, has said the US president is in “panic mode” after the downing of a US fighter jet over Iran leaves one service member missing.

“Why do you think the president hasn’t spoken about this on camera today?” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Bolton, who has emerged as a critic of Trump.

Bolton responded: “He’s probably back in panic mode, wishing he could find a way to declare victory and get out of this war”.

Trump did give two brief phone interviews today, including one to The Independent, in which he wouldn’t comment on what the US will do if the missing service member is captured or harmed.

“I can’t comment on it because — we hope that’s not going to happen”, he said.