US President Donald Trump has issued expletive-filled threats against Iran, vowing to strike its power plants and bridges if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to marine traffic by Tuesday. The warning came after American forces rescued a wounded aviator whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran, with the service member missing behind enemy lines since the incident.
Iran's state TV aired a video claiming to show parts of US aircraft involved in the rescue operation that Iran said it shot down. A regional intelligence official told The Associated Press that the US military destroyed two transport planes due to a technical malfunction during the mission.
In a defiant response, Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighbouring Gulf Arab countries and threatened to restrict another key waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Arabian Peninsula. Meanwhile, plumes of smoke rose above Beirut as Israel continued strikes on the city's southern suburbs.
Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority reported searching for three people in northern Israel who lost contact following a missile launched from Iran. Rescue workers were also active at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit a crowded neighbourhood south of Beirut, and at a residential building in Haifa struck by an Iranian missile.
