Iran leaves door open for peace talks as hunt for missing US pilot continues
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The war entered its sixth week with scant prospect of peace talks in sight.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO/WASHINGTON - Iranian forces were hunting for a missing US pilot on April 4 from one of two warplanes downed over Iran and the Gulf, raising the stakes for Washington as the war entered its sixth week with scant prospect of peace talks in sight.
The incidents show the risks still facing US and Israeli aircraft over Iran, despite assertions by President Donald Trump and his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that US forces had total control of the skies.
The prospect of a US service member alive and on the run in Iran comes days after Mr Trump threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” in a conflict that has low public support among Americans and threatens lasting damage to the global economy.
With Iran’s leadership defiant since the start of the war, its foreign minister in principle left the door open for holding peace talks with the US via mediation from Pakistan, but gave no sign of Tehran’s willingness to bow to Mr Trump’s demands.
“We are deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts and have never refused to go to Islamabad. What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X.
Tehran mocks Trump’s war aims
Iranian fire brought down a two-seat US F-15E jet, officials in both countries said, while two US officials said the pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft that crashed in Kuwait after being hit by Iranian fire.
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Two Black Hawk helicopters engaged in the search for the missing pilot were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US officials told Reuters.
The scale of injuries to the crew was unclear.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing a south-western area near where the pilot’s plane came down, while the regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed “forces of the hostile enemy”.
Iranians pummeled by American air power since the US and Israel began their attacks on Feb 28 celebrated the plane downings. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X the war had been “downgraded from regime change” to a hunt for pilots.
Mr Trump has been in the White House receiving updates on the rescue effort, a senior administration official told Reuters.
Increasingly frustrated with the political fallout from the war, Mr Trump is considering a broader Cabinet shake-up in the wake of Attorney-General Pam Bondi’s removal this week, people familiar with the discussions said.
Any potential reshuffling could serve as a reset for the White House as it confronts rising gas prices, falling ratings and worries for Republicans heading into November’s midterm elections.
The conflict has killed 13 US military service members, with more than 300 wounded, the US Central Command says.
Petrochemical zone struck in Iran
As hostilities continued on April 4, Iranian state media reported air strikes at a petrochemical zone in south-western Iran, with five people reported injured so far.
A projectile also hit an auxiliary building near the perimeter of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, the Tasnim news agency said, killing one person. The operations of the plant were unaffected.
“Remember the Western outrage about hostilities near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine? Israel-US have bombed our Bushehr plant four times now. Radioactive fallout will end life in GCC capitals, not Tehran,” Mr Araghchi said on X, referring to Arab states of the Gulf.
Iranian media also reported air strikes on warehouses storing bottled water in western Iran.
The Israeli military meanwhile said it had carried out “a wave of strikes” on Tehran.
The war has killed thousands and sparked an energy crisis since the initial strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has virtually shut the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, but on April 4 the Tasnim news agency reported Iran had authorised the passage of vessels carrying essential goods to its ports.
As countries from Germany to Japan sought to deal with the fallout, five European Union finance ministers called for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies in reaction to rising fuel prices, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
On April 4, authorities in Dubai said no injuries were reported after debris from aerial interceptions hit the facades of two buildings in the emirate, including that of US tech company Oracle in Dubai Internet City.
Israel has been waging a parallel campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon after the militant group fired at Israel in support of Iran.
Early on April 4, Israel’s military said it was striking the militants’ infrastructure sites in Beirut.
Oil markets were closed after benchmark US crude prices jumped 11 per cent on April 2 after Mr Trump offered no clear sign of an imminent end to the war in a speech. REUTERS
