Live Updates: U.S. fighter jet downed over Iran, 1 crew member rescued by American forces

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut is warning that Iran and aligned militias could target universities in Lebanon, and said Iran has specifically threatened American universities across the region. 

"The security situation in Lebanon is volatile and unpredictable," it said in a security alert Friday. "Airstrikes, drones and rocket attacks occur throughout the country, especially in the south, the Beqaa, and parts of Beirut."

It urged U.S. citizens who are in Lebanon to leave while commercial flight options are still available and advised Americans against traveling to the country.

"The U.S. Embassy strongly encourages U.S. citizens in southern Lebanon, near the borders with Syria, in refugee settlements, and in the southern suburbs of Beirut, including Dahiyeh, to depart those areas immediately," it said.

Lebanon is home to the American University of Beirut, or AUB, and the Lebanese American University, both private institutions.

The photos of debris that Iranian media said showed the wreckage of a downed U.S. fighter jet appear consistent with an American F-15, two weapons experts told CBS News.

The photos were published on April 3 by the Tasnim News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. CBS News could not independently verify when and where the photos were taken.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the Armament Research Services (ARES), said the debris appears to show a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle. Meanwhile, Wes J. Bryant, a defense and national security analyst and former Pentagon advisor on precision warfare and civilian protection, also said the wreckage appeared consistent with an F-15.

Jenzen-Jones said the images do not prove the aircraft was shot down, only that it crashed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an immediate ceasefire in the escalating Middle East war on Friday, the Kremlin said.

The two leaders had a call on Friday in which they "noted their shared positions on the need for an immediate ceasefire and the development of compromise peace agreements that take into account the legitimate interests of all states in the region," a Kremlin statement said.

"It was noted that intense military action is leading to serious negative consequences not only regionally but also globally, including in the areas of energy, trade, and logistics," it added.

Putin and Erdogan also discussed "the importance of coordinated measures to comprehensively ensure security in the Black Sea area," Kremlin said, accusing Ukraine of "attempts to target gas transportation infrastructure linking Russia and Turkey."

CBS/AFP

Israel's military said it has launched a wave of strikes targeting Iran's capital on Friday, alongside parallel attacks on Beirut in Lebanon.

"In addition to the strikes in Beirut, the IDF has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian regime in Tehran," the military said.

President Trump has been briefed on the U.S. fighter jet that was downed over Iran on Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CBS News.

One crew member from the U.S. F-15E fighter jet downed over Iran was rescued by American forces, two U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Friday.

The F-15E is a two-member crew aircraft. The search and rescue mission is ongoing.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni began a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar on Friday to boost "national energy security," a government source told the French news agency AFP, as the Middle East war raged, with all three nations on her itinerary fending off daily Iranian missile and drone strikes.

Meloni began her previously unannounced tour in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, the reports said, adding that she was the first leader of a European Union or NATO country to visit the region since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war on Iran on Feb. 28.

CBS/AFP

F-15E fighter jets in Iran, like the one that was downed, are being used for bombing missions, says Aaron MacLean, a CBS News national security analyst.

"There's not a lot of air-to-air combat to be had right now," he said. 

"So this aircraft would have been prosecuting targets in Iran or participating broadly in some sort of mission to strike targets on the ground in Iran," he said.

The F-15E is flown by a two-member crew, who MacLean says would be armed with sidearms.

"But depending on what they encounter on the ground, that's not a lot," he said. "You would have a pistol essentially to defend yourself in extremis. The much better play, and what they would be looking to do, is hide, make contact with their rescuers and get out without coming into contact, obviously, with any kind of enemy forces."

The pilots have been trained in procedures they should follow if they eject from the aircraft, including evading capture. In a scenario in which they are captured, they have been trained to "comport themselves in a manner that does credit to their country," MacLean said.

The fighter jet that was downed is the same type of aircraft that was shot down last month over Kuwait in a "friendly fire incident." In that incident, three American F-15s were "mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses," according to CENTCOM. All six aircrew ejected safely.

CBS News national security analyst Aaron MacLean said images being shared widely on social media and by Iranian state media, showing U.S. warplanes and attack helicopters flying low on Friday, are consistent with the kind of maneuvers typical of a search and rescue mission.

He said the aircraft seen in the video clips, some of which CBS News has independently verified, appeared to be flying at low altitudes in broad daylight over hostile territory, something the U.S. military would only do if it had a good reason, such as to try and rescue a downed pilot or pilots.

An American F-15E fighter jet was downed over Iran, U.S. officials confirmed Friday, and a search and rescue effort is ongoing, two sources confirmed to CBS News. The F-15E is flown by a two-member crew.

Earlier Friday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard claimed it shot down a U.S. fighter jet over central Iran.

Photos and video were circulating on social media, shared by Iranian state news outlets, suggesting at least one U.S. C-130 aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters were spotted flying low over central and southwest Iran in what was described as a possible effort to locate and recover the crew.

Iranian state media cited the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Friday as denying it had launched any attack on Kuwait's water desalination plants, hours after Kuwaiti officials said one of the country's combined power and desalination plants was "attacked as part of the heinous Iranian aggression," causing material damage to some of the plant's components.

Without offering any evidence, the IRGC blamed Israel for the strike.

"The IRGC has strongly condemned the Zionist regime's army attack on Kuwait's water desalination centers, describing it as a criminal aggression that threatens regional stability and civilian infrastructure," the state-run Tamsin news agency reported.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Kuwait relies on desalination for 90% of its fresh water, with at least half a dozen plants operating to meet the need.

Most Persian Gulf states, including Iran, rely heavily on desalination plants to produce fresh water for everything from crop irrigation to human consumption, making them vital civilian infrastructure and a major point of vulnerability in conflict.

Iranian media said Tuesday that an Israeli or U.S. airstrike had taken a desalination plant on the country's Gulf island of Qeshm offline. According to the government-affiliated Borna News agency, the head of the Iranian Ministry of Health's Environmental and Labor Health Center said all drinking water on Qeshm is supplied by desalination and that the strike had taken the plant out of service.

The Abu Dhabi government said Friday that 12 people were wounded, including a Nepali national who sustained a "major injury," as debris rained down in the United Arab Emirates' Al Ajban area following the interception of dozens of Iranian missiles and drones.

The Abu Dhabi Media Office said six Nepalis and five Indian nationals sustained minor to moderate injuries.

Earlier the UAE's Ministry of Defenses said it had "engaged 18 Ballistic missiles, 4 cruise missiles and 47 UAV's launched from Iran."

There were unconfirmed reports of a U.S. search and rescue operation in the skies over Iran on Friday after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard claimed it shot down a U.S. F-35 fighter jet over the middle of the country. 

The U.S. military had not replied to a CBS News' request for information on the alleged incident hours after it was submitted.

Axios reported that a "source familiar with the incident" had confirmed the shootdown and an ongoing search for the plane's two-member crew.

There were conflicting reports about whether it was an F-35 or an F-15 possible hit by Iran. 

Photos and video were circulating on social media, shared by Iranian state news outlets, suggesting at least one U.S. C-130 aircraft and an Apache attack helicopter were spotted flying low over central and southwest Iran in what was described as a possible effort to locate and recover an American pilot who ejected after being hit.

The U.S. has lost at least 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran since the war began, and three U.S. F-15 fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a "friendly fire incident" early in the conflict, but there were no casualties.

If confirmed by the U.S. military, the shootdown claimed by the IRGC on Friday would be the first of a manned American aircraft by enemy fire during the war, and it would come after repeated assertions by President Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and military commanders that Iran has been largely deprived of attack capabilities and air defenses during the war.

"Now in our 5th week of the campaign, it is my operational assessment that we are making undeniable progress. We don't see their navy sailing. We don't see their aircraft flying, and their air and missile defense systems have largely been destroyed," CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said Thursday. 

A local affiliate of Iran's state TV channel said Friday a prize was on offer for anyone able to "capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police."

The Associated Press said the TV broadcast included a written message urging viewers to shoot at any U.S. aircraft seen flying overhead.

President Trump said Friday that Iran's iron grip on the Strait of Hormuz, which has sent oil and gas prices soaring since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war on Iran 35 days ago, could be released "with a little more time," enabling the U.S. to "TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE." 

"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???" Mr. Trump said, without explaining what he anticipated changing in the Persian gulf to enable the strait to be easily reopened, or how long he thought it might take.

The CMA CGM Kribi, sailing under a Malta flag and operated by French shipping company CMA CGM, became possibly the first vessel with links to France to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since Iran effectively closed the vital shipping lane, according to the MarineTraffic website.

The ship departed waters off Dubai Thursday and arrived Friday off Muscat, Oman, MarineTraffic data showed. 

The vessel's path through the strait, according to MarineTraffic's tracking data, indicates that it took a northerly route, traversing a narrow gap between the Iranian islands of Qeshm and Larak — the latter of which analysts say Iran has been using as a "toll booth" to collect fees as high as $2 million to grant vessels safe passage.

CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping company, declined to comment when contacted by the AP.

Traffic through the strait has dropped by about 90% since the start of the Iran war. Only about 150 vessels, including tankers and container ships, have transited the strait since March 1, according to data firm Lloyd's List Intelligence. Most were linked to Iran and countries including China, India and Pakistan.

A Japanese vessel also completed a safe transit of the strait, the liquid natural gas tanker's owner told the Reuters news agency on Friday, in what would be the first crossing for a Japanese ship since the war started.

The Panama-flagged LNG tanker "SOHAR LNG" crossed the strait and was safe Friday along with its crew off the coast of Oman, the ship's joint owner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines of Japan told Reuters. MarineTraffic also showed the vessel just off Oman's coast, east of the strait.

The Japanese logistics company declined to tell Reuters when the ship transited the strait or whether there was any kind of negotiation with Iran to enable its safe passage.

Japan's Asahi newspaper said it was the first Japanese owned vessel to make it through the strait since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran.

CBS/AP

Iran's ability to wreak havoc in the global economy by paralyzing commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has proved a major strategic advantage, and world leaders have struggled to figure out how to reopen the waterway. 

The United Nations Security Council had been set to consider a new proposal from Bahrain on the strait today, but the meeting was postponed to Saturday.

The Council is now expected to vote Saturday on the proposal from Bahrain, which would authorize defensive action to ensure vessels can safely transit the waterway. 

Bahrain's initial draft would have allowed countries to "use all necessary means" to secure the strait, but Russia, China and France — who have veto power as permanent members of the Council — expressed opposition to approving the use of force.

CBS/AP

The Red Crescent charity said Friday that an airstrike had hit one of its warehouses storing relief materials in Bushehr, on Iran's western Persian Gulf coast, as the U.S. and Israel continued strikes across the country. 

"This attack took place at a time when, according to the Geneva Conventions and the rules and principles of international humanitarian law, targeting relief equipment and infrastructure is prohibited," the Red Crescent said in a social media post, without attributing any blame for the strike.

The post was accompanied by a video in which a Bushehr Red Crescent Society official showed destroyed vehicles, debris and a crater in the ground.

"The attack occurred at around 05:00 local time on Friday, 3 April, in the Choghadak district of Bushehr County. It destroyed two wheeled containers used for transporting relief supplies, as well as a bus and a rescue vehicle," the Red Crescent said.

Oil prices continued to surge on worries of a prolonged Iran war but most Asian markets that were open rose moderately in cautious trading Friday.

In Europe, trading was closed in France, Germany and Britain for the Good Friday holiday.

U.S. markets trading also was closed, but S&P 500 futures are trading and slipped nearly 0.3% to 6,604.50. Dow futures were down 0.3% at 46,615.00.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel.

"A more extended conflict raises the threat to physical infrastructure, extends disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, and will entail a longer post-war recovery period, with price impacts spilling over later into the year," according to a report from BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

The U.S. relies on the Persian Gulf for only a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market.

Iran's state media carried a new claim by the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Friday to have shot down a U.S. F-35 fighter jet. 

The jet was "struck and downed over central Iran by the IRGC Aerospace Force's new air defense system," a spokesman for Iran's central military headquarters said in a statement carried by state media. "Due to the severe explosion of the aircraft upon impact and crash, it is unlikely that the pilot ejected safely."

It was the second claim by the IRGC to have shot down an F-35 this week, the first of which was flatly denied by the U.S. military on Thursday.

"All U.S. fighter aircraft are accounted for," U.S. Central Command said in a social media post on Thursday, referring to the claim made by the IRGC on Wednesday to have downed an F-35 over the Iranian Persian Gulf island of Qeshm.

"Iran's IRGC has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times," CENTCOM added in its social media post. 

CBS News asked CENTCOM about the new claim by the IRGC on Friday but did not receive an immediate response.

Iranian media posted images on social media showing various items of debris described as parts of a downed F-35, including a photo purported to show a badly damaged tail piece bearing insignia suggesting the debris was part of an aircraft based at RAF Lakenheath air base in the U.K., home to the U.S. Air Forces' 48th Fighter Wing, which includes F-35s. 

CBS News has not independently verified the authenticity of the photos shared by Iran's state media.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said Friday that one of the country's combined power and water desalination plants was "attacked as part of the heinous Iranian aggression against the State of Kuwait, resulting in material damage to some of the plant's components."

"Technical and emergency teams immediately commenced their work, in accordance with approved emergency plans, to address the repercussions of the incident and ensure continued operational efficiency, in full coordination with security and relevant authorities to secure the affected sites," the ministry said.

Earlier, Kuwait's national Petroleum Corporation said the Al-Ahmadi Port Refinery, one of the largest oil refineries in the region, was hit by an Iranian drone attack, "resulting in fires in several operating units." 

The company said emergency crews were "working to contain the fires and prevent their spread."

To the north along the Persian Gulf coast, the government of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates said falling debris from an intercepted Iranian missile or drone struck the state-owned Habshan natural gas processing plant, causing a fire but no injuries.

The UAE's Ministry of Defense had said earlier that air defenses were countering "missile and drone attacks coming from Iran."

Saudi Arabia's defense ministry also reported "intercepting and destroying 6 drones during the past hours" on Friday, as Iran continued its attacks against U.S. Gulf allies despite repeated assertions by the Trump administration that the Islamic Republic's missile and drone launching capacity had been reduced by 90% during more than a month of relentless U.S.-Israeli strikes.

"Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday on social media.

His message appeared to be a response to a post from President Trump on Truth Social, in which Mr. Trump wrote, "The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again," along with a video of a bridge being destroyed.

Araghchi said such attacks "only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray. Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America's standing."

"There's one striking difference between the present and the Stone Age: there was no oil or gas being pumped in the Middle East back then," he said, again appearing to reference comments made by both Mr. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the U.S. would bomb Iran back to the Stone Age.

"Are POTUS and Americans who put him in office sure that they want to turn back the clock?" Araghchi wrote.

A set of strikes on Iran's B1 bridge killed at least eight people and wounded 95 more, Iran's state media said, citing authorities in the Alborz province.

People had gathered under the bridge, which was still under construction, and along the riverbank to celebrate "Nature Day," Iranian state media said. 

President Trump referenced the strike on the B1 bridge, located west of Tehran in the city of Karaj, in a social media post earlier Thursday. He urged Iran to "make a deal."

"The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!" he said on Truth Social, posting a video of the collapsing bridge.

CBS/AP

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said in a statement the president's speech Wednesday night was "grounded in a reality that only exists in Donald Trump's mind."

"We are losing this war," Murphy said. "We cannot destroy all their missiles or drones, nor their nuclear program. Iran projects more power in the region than they did before the war, especially if they now permanently control the Strait of Hormuz. We are spending billions we don't have and losing American lives in a war that is destabilizing the world and making us look feckless."