Iran-US war live: US and Tehran race to find missing pilot as Iranian drones target Oracle office in Dubai

Iran has claimed it attacked an Israel-affiliated vessel ⁠with a drone ⁠in ​the ⁠Strait of ⁠Hormuz.

Iran’s state ‌media said the attack set the ship on fire.

There was ‌no ​immediate ‌comment ⁠from ⁠Israel.

Iranian forces are hunting for a missing US pilot from one of two warplanes downed over Iran and the Gulf, raising the stakes for Washington.

The jet was shot down by Iranian forces around 6:45 a.m. ET Friday and a rescue mission was quickly launched. One of the pilots, who had ejected before the aircraft went down, was rescued by US forces, two US officials told CBS News. The pilot is alive and receiving medical attention, officials said.

US forces are racing to recover the second pilot, a weapons system officer, before Iranian forces can reach them. Israel is helping the United States with the search and rescue operation.

Two drones hit ⁠the BP-operated North Rumaila oilfield in southern Iraq on Saturday, wounding three Iraqi workers, security ⁠and ​energy sources said.

The ⁠attack took place shortly after another ⁠drone hit storage facilities west ​of ⁠the port ‌city of Basra that belong to foreign oil companies, ‌the sources said.

The ‌drone strikes had no impact on operations in this ⁠part of Iraq’s giant Rumaila oilfield, as they targeted an equipment storage facility, said two Iraqi engineers working at the field.

Foreign ‌staff were evacuated following ​an earlier drone strike ‌on the ⁠oilfield, sources told ⁠Reuters last month.

The U.S. military pressed ahead Saturday in a frantic search for a missing pilot after Iran shot down an American warplane, as Iran called on people to turn the pilot in, promising a reward.

The plane, identified by Iran as a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing. It was the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could mark a new turning point in the campaign.

Iran ​has authorised the passage of vessels carrying essential goods ⁠to its ports through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a ⁠letter ​cited by ⁠Iran’s Tasnim news agency on ⁠Saturday.

The letter indicates ​that ⁠ships heading ‌to Iranian ports, including those currently in the ‌Gulf of ‌Oman, must coordinate with authorities and comply ⁠with established protocols to transit the strait, Tasnim said.

Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, which normally ‌carries about a ​fifth of ‌the world’s ⁠total oil trade, in ⁠retaliation for US-Israeli attacks ‌that ​began ‌on February 28.

Iraq has ​closed the Shalamcheh ‌border crossing with Iran after airstrikes on the ​Iranian side killed ​an Iraqi citizen, security ⁠sources said on ​Saturday.

The sources said at ​least five Iraqis were seriously wounded in the strikes, ​which hit a ​passenger reception area on the ‌Iranian ⁠side.

Iraqi police recovered the body of a man, while the ​wounded ​were ⁠taken to hospital, most in critical ​condition.

Iraq’s border authorities ​ordered ⁠the crossing closed to trade and travellers, ⁠the ​authorities said ​in a statement.

Reports from within Iran point to an increase in checkpoints and surveillance, with claims of phones seized and social media monitored writes Amirhossein Miresmaeili:

Residents say increased checkpoints, the presence of armed forces in residential neighbourhoods, intensified security crackdowns, and raids on homes have severely disrupted daily life.

According to accounts received by Independent Persian, in many neighbourhoods in Tehran, forces belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its subsidiary Basij militia have effectively turned residential areas into security zones by stationing heavy vehicles, numerous motorcycles and military equipment outside apartment complexes.

Iran has said it targeted US tech firm, Oracle, in Dubai’s Internet City district.

Authorities in Dubai said the drones were intercepted, but shrapnel hit the facades of two buildings, including one belonging to Oracle.

No injuries were reported.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to attack Oracle and 17 other US companies after accusing them of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations in Iran.

Previous Iranian drone strikes caused damage to three Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

US and Israeli warplanes continued to pound Iran Saturday, hitting several targets including a petrochemical facility, Iranian media reported.

Iran’s official English-language newspaper Tehran Times reported that an airstrike hit a facility belonging to Iran’s Agriculture Ministry in the western city of Mehran.

The newspaper said another air raid struck Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Zone in the southwestern Khuzestan province.

The semiofficial Fars news agency reported several explosions heard late Saturday morning in the facility.

Mehr, another semiofficial news agency, reported that the strikes hit four companies within the zone.