President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash “all hell” on Iran as early as Monday was met with defiance in the Islamic Republic as the U.S. military continued its dayslong search for an airman whose F-15E was shot down.

The Defense Department maintained its public silence about the downed aircraft — as well as the reported crash of an A-10 Warthog — while Trump posted that the 10-day deadline for Iran to make a peace deal with the U.S. was running out.

“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump said in a social media post on Saturday. “Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to God!”

Trump had extended a five-day deadline to April 6 as preliminary discussions for peace talks got under way in late March and as he searched for a way out of the expanding war.

Iran’s downing of the aircraft pierced the aura of invincibility Trump and top administration officials have sought to project as they try to stave off the increasing political risks.

Another signal that the war was no closer to ending in its sixth week is a U.S. decision, reported by Bloomberg, to pull nearly its entire inventory of stealthy long-range JASSM-ER cruise missiles from the Pacific region and the U.S. to be available to attack Iran, leaving only 425 available for conflicts elsewhere.

Trump has warned that if Iran doesn’t agree to his terms — which the government has rejected — and open the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic out of the Persian Gulf, the U.S. would bomb the country’s civilian energy infrastructure, strikes that could constitute a war crime under international law.

Iran announced Saturday that Iraq, a major oil producer, would be exempt from its shipping restrictions in the strait, allowing as much as 3 million barrels a day of Iraqi oil cargoes. An Iraqi official struck a cautious note, saying the outflow depends on whether shipping companies are willing to risk entering the strait.

Strikes and counterstrikes continued unabated as the Israeli military said it hit a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran Saturday, claiming that it produced military substances. Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency said five people died in the attack and 170 were injured.

Missing airman

In Iran, the U.S. continued search-and-rescue operations for a crew member from an F-15E fighter jet shot down by Iran on Friday, as Tehran offered a reward of about $66,000 for his capture.

It’s the first known combat loss of a U.S. or Israeli plane since the two countries began attacking Iran on Feb. 28. Three U.S. aircraft were downed by friendly fire in Kuwait early in the war, while others have been destroyed or damaged at airbases by Iranian drones and missiles.

The U.S. rescued one of the F-15E crew members, according to an American official who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information. The status of the second person is unclear.

The lone pilot of the A-10 Warthog plane was safely rescued, the New York Times reported.

Strikes and counterstrikes

Other attacks targeting the perimeter of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant left one security staff member dead, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The main sections of the facility, where Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom has workers, were unaffected, Tasnim said.

Iran fired missiles and drones across much of the Middle East. Dubai authorities reported that debris from an aerial interception fell on the facade of an Oracle Corp. building in Dubai Internet City on Saturday morning. They also reported debris hitting a building in the nearby Dubai Marina area. No fire or injuries were reported.

Iran also sent more missiles toward Israel. There was damage to a parking lot in Tel Aviv and to buildings in several outlying towns, authorities said, describing the impacts as caused by debris from interceptions. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Iran has continued to hit key energy infrastructure in the past two days.

The UAE’s largest natural gas processing facility, Habshan, suspended operations after debris from a projectile interception sparked a fire. A drone attack set ablaze Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery, which can process almost 350,000 barrels a day of crude.

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member, said it detected 79 projectiles fired from Iran on Saturday, including 23 ballistic missiles. That was the highest number of projectiles since March 8, according to data published by UAE authorities, and continued a trend of more numerous attacks over the last three days.

The UAE, like other Gulf states and Israel, has intercepted the vast majority of Iranian attacks.

Peace efforts stall

Iran has shown little sign of accepting Trump’s demands for peace and has laid out its own conditions — most of them unacceptable to the U.S. and Israel.

The New York Times, citing U.S. intelligence reports, said Iranian personnel have been digging out underground missile bunkers and silos struck by American and Israeli bombs and returning them to operation hours after attacks. That casts doubt on the U.S. and Israel’s ability to destroy Iran’s missile capability — one of their key war goals.

On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a social media post that he spoke by phone with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, saying the situation was heading for a deadlock and “urged the international community to step up efforts to end the war.”

Bahrain, supported by Jordan and Arab Gulf states, is proposing a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at helping reopen Hormuz, according to the UAE. It would provide “a clear legal basis for all states to mobilize and support safe passage,” the UAE said in a post on X.

It’s unclear when a vote on the resolution will take place.

Russia, an Iranian ally, pushed back on the initiative, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying it would “legitimize aggression against Iran.” The comments signal Moscow may use its veto power, as one of five permanent members of the Security Council.

Ships trickle through strait

A few ships are managing to pass through the strait. A French container ship and a Japanese-owned tanker have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the past two days, in what appear to be the first such transits since the war in Iran shuttered the crucial waterway.

The energy shock, which has seen gasoline pump prices in the country jump to more than $4 a gallon on average, carries political risks for Trump and his Republican Party in the November midterm elections.

U.S. benchmark oil prices, or WTI futures, closed at more than $111 a barrel last week and have almost doubled this year.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict, almost three-quarters of them in Iran, according to government organizations and the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Just over 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting a parallel war against Iran-allied Hezbollah.

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(With assistance from María Paula Mijares Torres, Arsalan Shahla and Kate Sullivan.)

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