(Bloomberg) — U.S. forces rescued a pilot in Iran after his fighter jet was shot down, while sustained attacks by the Islamic Republic sparked fires that damaged Kuwait’s oil headquarters and disrupted operations at a petrochemical plant in the United Arab Emirates.
in a mountainous area, one day after a second person from the same F-15E fighter was successfully evacuated, President Donald Trump said in a post on the Truth Social network this Sunday. Earlier, on Monday, saying that the 10-day deadline for a peace agreement with the US is running out.
The downing of the American aircraft has shattered the image of invulnerability that Trump sought to project, as the war with Iran enters its second month. The Iranian attacks have brought the Strait of Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes — to a near standstill, raising energy prices and putting pressure on global markets.
Oil prices have been impacted by the conflict, and the soaring costs of products such as jet fuel and diesel threaten to trigger a new wave of inflation. OPEC+ members plan to increase their production quotas in May, according to two delegates, in a symbolic move as the war limits production and shipments from some of the alliance’s largest members.
The rescue operation lasted two days and involved hundreds of special forces soldiers. During the action, US aircraft dropped bombs and fired on Iranian convoys to prevent them from approaching the area where the pilot was hiding, the New York Times reported. The US also destroyed two of its own special operations aircraft after they were grounded, according to the Wall Street Journal, without detailing the cause.
Iran said five people were killed and 170 injured in an airstrike on a petrochemical complex in the country’s southwest, an action claimed by the Israel Defense Forces.
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Bahrain reported that a drone attack caused a fire at storage facilities belonging to state-owned energy company Bapco Energies, which was later controlled without any casualties.
The headquarters of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., which also houses the country’s Ministry of Petroleum, was hit by fire after a similar attack. A separate bombing of power and desalination plants caused significant damage, leaving two units out of operation.
Borouge PLC has suspended operations at a petrochemical plant in Abu Dhabi after multiple fires sparked by debris resulting from intercepted Iranian strikes, the government media office said.
Saudi Arabia also reported cruise missile attacks, saying they were intercepted.
Israel said on Sunday it had struck more than 120 air and missile defense systems in central and western Iran in the last 24 hours.
Iran has shown little willingness to accept Trump’s demands for a peace deal and has put forward its own conditions — most considered unacceptable by the US and Israel. The president warned that if Iran does not accept the terms and does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic, the US could bomb the country’s civilian energy infrastructure, which could constitute a war crime under international law.
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Iran announced on Saturday that Iraq will be exempt from navigation restrictions in the strait, allowing the flow of up to 3 million barrels per day of Iraqi oil. An Iraqi official was cautious, saying volumes would depend on the willingness of shipping companies to operate in the region.
Attacks in the area of the Bushehr nuclear complex left one security officer dead, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The main areas of the facility, where there are workers from the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, were not hit.
More than 5,000 people have died in the conflict, about three-quarters of them in Iran, according to government bodies and the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. More than 1,300 people have died in Lebanon, where Israel is waging a parallel war against Iran’s ally Hezbollah.
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With assistance from Yasufumi Saito.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
