Dubai: A channel affiliated with Iranian state television claimed Friday that a US fighter pilot ejected from aircraft over southwestern Iran.
Although the US did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the claim, it has launched rescue operation.
Earlier Tehran TV said that a US pilot may have been captured in Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reportedly shot down F-35 and F-15 E fighter aircraft of the US, Iranian media reported on Friday. The claims could not be independently verified.
It was not clear what may have happened to the plane, including whether Iran was claiming it was shot down or had another issue. If the claim is confirmed, it could lead to yet another dramatic escalation in the war, nearing the end of its fifth week.
Iran fired on targets across the Mideast on Friday, as Tehran kept the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbours, despite US and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.
The anchor on the Iranian channel urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward for anyone who did. The channel is in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, an intensely rural and mountainous region that spans over 15,500 square kilometres (5,900 square miles).
Authorities also urged the public to search for the pilot in neighboring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.
Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time that Iran went on television urging the public to look for a suspected downed pilot.
An on-screen crawl earlier urged the public to “shoot them if you see them,” referring to social media footage circulating of what appeared to be US aircraft in the area. The channel showed metal debris in the back of a pickup truck while making the announcement but provided no other immediate details.
The claim came as Iran fired on targets across the region, setting Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery on fire.
The state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp said firefighters were working to control several blazes there.
Kuwait also said an Iranian attack caused “material damage” to a desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states, and they have become a major target in the war.
Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, and Israel reported incoming missiles.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile interception reportedly rained debris on it and started a fire.
Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit. A day earlier, Iran said the US hit a major bridge, which was still under construction, killing eight people.
In Lebanon, an Israeli drone strike on worshippers leaving Friday prayers in the town of Sohmor, killed two people and wounded 11, according to the state-run National News Agency
World leaders have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.
