Live updates: One pilot rescued, one still missing after U.S. fighter jet shot down over Iran, officials say

The State Department has urged U.S. citizens to leave Lebanon following Israeli airstrikes in the capital, Beirut, and the south of the country.

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon said the situation has become "volatile and unpredictable" with airstrikes, drones and rocket attacks, saying people should leave "while commercial flight options remain available."

"Iran and its aligned terrorist militias may intend to target universities in Lebanon," the embassy said in a public statement. "Iran has specifically threatened American universities across the Middle East."

U.S. citizens who do not leave should prepare contingency plans for emergencies and be prepared to shelter in place, the updated guidance stated.

Iranian defense official Ali Akbar Ahmadian said in a post on X that "we will neither retreat under threats nor be swayed by clamor and empty shows."

"This region is our playing field, and responses are based on rational and realistic calculations, not Hollywood-style theatrics," said Ahmadian, representative of the leader of the revolution in the Islamic Republic’s Defense Council.

"The Islamic Revolution, in its first step, expelled America from Iran," he said. "The second step," he added, is expelling the U.S. forces "from the region."

One of the F-15 pilots on the downed U.S. fighter jet was rescued and is alive, a U.S. official told NBC News.

A U.S. official told NBC News that the F-15 fighter jet appears to have been shot down by Iran.

The fate of those inside the jet was not immediately clear.

A video posted on social media shows a C-130 tanker refueling two HH-60G helicopters flying over Khuzestan in southern Iran after a U.S. fighter jet went down over the area.

The White House said President Donald Trump has been briefed after a U.S. fighter jet went down over Iran.

A search and rescue mission is currently underway.

A search was underway Friday after a two-seat F-15 fighter jet went down over Iran, according to two U.S. officials.

The rescue mission, which includes special operations personnel recovery teams, follows hours of reporting by Iranian state media of a downed U.S. fighter jet. Iran’s media published photos alongside claims from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it had shot down the aircraft.

The fate of those inside the jet was not immediately clear. But one official in Iran’s southwest issued a public plea for locals to find them and promised a reward, according to official and semiofficial Iranian news organizations.

Read the full story here.

World food prices climbed in March to their highest level since ‌September last year and could rise further if the war continues, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a news release.

The FAO Food Price Index increased 2.4% in March from February. It is 1% above its value a year ago, the U.N. food agency said.

“If the conflict stretches beyond 40 days with high input costs with current low margins, farmers will have to choose: farm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertilizer crops,” FAO Chief Economist Máximo Torero said. “Those choices will hit future yields and shape our food supply and commodity prices for the rest of this year and all of the next.”

Vegetable oil prices increased 5.1%, marking the third consecutive monthly rise. Meat prices reached 1%, dairy prices climbed 1.2% and sugar prices rose 7.2%.

Easter Masses in Dubai have been canceled because of the war, according to two churches in the United Arab Emirates.

St. Francis of Assisi Church at Jebel posted the message on its website.

"As per directives of the Government Regulatory Authorities, all Masses at our Church are cancelled until further notice," the message read. "Parishioners are requested to refrain from visiting the Church premises, in the interest of safety and community well-being."

St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Dubai posted a similar message, saying the church is closed "until further notice." A Good Friday service tonight will be streamed online.

St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral said all services would be conducted online until further notice, while the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai said in a Facebook post that all gatherings are canceled because the building will be closed temporarily.

The U.S. and Israeli military campaign in Iran lacked a legal justification and has raised serious concerns about repeated violations of international law, according to a letter signed by more than 100 U.S.-based law experts.

The letter's signatories, including professors at leading American colleges, said that the war was contrary to the U.N. Charter and that they had concerns that the fundamental rules on avoiding civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure may have been violated.

"We are seriously concerned about strikes that have hit schools, health facilities, and homes," the letter said.

The letter added that other states should not assist the U.S., Israel or Iran "in the commission of internationally wrongful acts.

Israel’s military says it will soon be able to say it has established new defensive lines in order to prevent direct fire on communities in northern Israel.

Army spokesman Nadav Shoshani said Israel will establish control and defense for its communities coming under “immediate fire” posing an “imminent threat.” Shoshani said Israel has killed at least 1,000 Hezbollah militants since the start of the operation.

The assault has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, according to authorities, and displaced more than 1 million.

President Donald Trump has claimed in a Truth Social post that "with a little more time," the U.S. "can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE."

He said it would be a potential ‘GUSHER’ FOR THE WORLD."

Trump's latest comments stand in contrast to his assertion earlier in the week that U.S. allies should instead step in and reopen the strait to take the oil.

It comes as Iran continues to largely block the vital trade route, sending energy prices surging, in the wake of the American-Israeli attack. Trump has been threatening to intensify attacks on Iran's civilian infrastructure if it does not reopen the waterway.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep striking Iran "in full coordination between myself and President Trump, and between the IDF and the United States military."

Speaking during a situation assessment in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said: "Together with our American friends, we continue to strike the terror regime in Iran. We are eliminating commanders, bombing bridges, and striking infrastructure."

He claimed that Israel has "destroyed 70% of Iran’s steel production capacity" in recent days.

The U.S. military confirms it struck the biggest bridge in Iran which connects Tehran to a neighboring city. It comes as Trump is warning that the United States "hasn't even started destroying what's left" in that country.

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West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the main U.S. benchmark, rose by 11.9 % to $112 a barrel today, its highest level since 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

At the start of this year, WTI was at $54 per barrel.

Oil markets are closed for trading today as a result of the Easter holiday, but the rising crude oil price is likely to intensify fears of a market downturn, fuel shortages and food security issues.

Oil and fuels prices have shot up across the world as a result of the Iran war.

Families enjoy the sunshine in a park in central Tehran yesterday to celebrate Sizdah Bedar, the 13th day following Norwuz in the Iranian calendar, also known as Nature Day.

Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

Families prepared meals in a local woodland as others listened to music in a capital city under the shadow of U.S.-Israeli attacks.

Morteza Nikoubazl / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

Amnesty International is warning Iran that its recruitment of children as young as 12 for the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force amounts to a war crime. The Guard has put out the call recently as the Basij finds its checkpoints under attack during the war with the United States and Israel.

Amnesty also said that eyewitnesses and its own analysis of video footage “show child soldiers having been deployed” to checkpoints and patrols, some armed with weapons including Kalashnikov-style assaults rifles.

“As U.S. and Israeli strikes hit thousands of (Guard) sites, including Basij facilities, across the country, including through drone attacks targeting security patrols and checkpoints, the deployment of child soldiers alongside (Guard) personnel or in their facilities puts them at grave risk of death and injury,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International.

Pope Leo XIV spoke on the phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog today and urged him to “reopen all paths of dialogue” to end the Iran war, the Vatican said.

The pope, who has emerged as a sharp critic of the regional conflict, also urged Herzog to protect civilians and promote respect for international and humanitarian law, the Vatican added.

Iranian state media claimed overnight that the country has downed a U.S. fighter jet and released photos of what it said was the plane.

The jet "was destroyed in the skies over central Iran by a new advanced air defense system of the IRGC Aerospace Force," the IRGC-linked Nour News reported.

The photos are difficult to geolocate and the United States has not confirmed any loss of a plane, but an expert told NBC News the images did appear to be from a U.S. fighter jet.

 via Telegram

Iranian media said it was an F-35, but "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," said Peter Layton, a former officer in the Australian air force and visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pakistan said today that it was sharply increasing consumer prices for gasoline and diesel, the second time it has raised prices in less than a month as the Iran war sends the cost of oil soaring.

The price of diesel will increase almost 55% to 520.35 rupees per liter ($6.94 per gallon), and gasoline by almost 43% to 458.40 rupees per liter ($6.23 per gallon).

“It was inevitable to raise the prices due to the international market prices going out of control after the U.S.-Iran war,” Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik said in a televised news conference.

People in Pakistan decried what they described as a “petrol bomb,” saying it would worsen a cost-of-living crisis.

A team searching a Thai ship that was struck near the Strait of Hormuz on March 11 has found human remains onboard, the Thai Foreign Ministry said this morning.

The Mayuree Naree was hit by a projectile just north of Oman. Three of its crew members were declared missing.

The search team was hired by the ship’s owner, Precious Shipping Co. The company and the ministry did not say when the ship was searched or its current location. A previous search of the vessel was disclosed March 30.

The ministry said the team has not been able to immediately verify the identity of the remains, which were found in a damaged area of the ship.

Photos released today show damage inflicted by strikes on the B1 bridge, near Tehran, which was hit yesterday while still under construction.

Local authorities reported that the strikes killed 8 and wounded 95 people who had gathered under the bridge and along the riverbank to celebrate “Nature Day,” Iran’s state media said, citing authorities in Alborz province.

Trump referenced the strike on the B1 bridge, which he called Iran’s biggest, in a social media post saying “much more to follow.” Iranian officials condemned the destruction of civilian infrastructure.

Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

Fatemeh Bahramii / Anadolu via Getty Images

Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

The head of Iran's ground forces has warned that any invading U.S. troops would be sent to the "pre Stone Age," a reference to President Donald Trump's threat in his speech earlier this week.

"We will send your soldiers not to the Stone Age but pre Stone Age," Brig. Gen. Ali Jahanshahi wrote on X. "Army commandos have been in full readiness for years through intensive training. The soil of Iran is a slaughterhouse for invaders; if you doubt it, try it," he said.

The U.S. has been gathering thousands more troops in the region and threatening a possible ground assault.

Kuwait said this morning that Iranian attacks hit a desalination plant and an oil refinery.

The attack on the desalination plant caused “material damage to some of the plant’s components,” it said, while drones attacked the Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery "resulting in fires in several operational units."

Desalination provides the majority of the water for Gulf Arab states and Iran, but have increasingly become a target in the war.

Trump has threatened to destroy Iran's desalination plants.

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

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.

Authorities in Abu Dhabi say that operations at the Habshan gas facilities "have been suspended while authorities respond to a fire" after an incident of falling debris from a successful air defense response.

It's one of a flurry of such incidents reported by authorities in the city, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as Iran continues to attack its Gulf neighbors with drones and missiles.

Iran’s former top diplomat has offered a proposal for a ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, who helped negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers from which Trump withdrew, made the proposal in an article published this morning in Foreign Affairs magazine.

Mohammad Javad Zarif attends the Davos summit in Switzerland in 2025. Halil Sagirkaya / Anadolu via Getty Images file

Zarif no longer holds any official position, but is seen as an ally of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian.

While insisting Iran “is clearly winning” the war, Zarif wrote that Tehran “should offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions — a deal Washington wouldn’t take before but might accept now.” He laid out other proposed terms, including enriching uranium at a lower level.

Bangladesh has launched fresh measures to curb energy consumption, cutting office hours and trimming public spending as conflict in the Middle East disrupts global fuel markets and strains power supply in the South Asian nation.

Officials said the steps approved by the cabinet yesterday aim to stabilize the energy situation in Bangladesh, which is heavily dependent on fuel imports and battered by price volatility and supply uncertainty from the U.S.‑Israeli war with Iran.

Under the new rules, government offices will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., while markets and shopping centers must shut by 6 p.m. to reduce electricity use. The government has also ordered cuts in non-essential public expenditure and urged lower power consumption in industry, with curbs on excessive lighting, for example.

The education ministry will issue guidelines for schools starting Sunday, with options such as adjusting timetables and shifting to online classes being considered.

Videos posted to social media by witnesses showed smoke rising from around the B1 bridge between Tehran and Karaj. Iran’s state media reported that strikes killed at least eight people and wounded 95.

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President Donald Trump has again threatened Iran with more intense attacks on civilian infrastructure if a deal to end the war isn't reached soon.

"Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!" Trump said in a Truth Social post late last night.

"New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!" he said.

It comes hours after he posted video of a bridge being bombed in Iran.