Hide, find water: U.S. ex-pilot details how to survive being shot down. As #American forces race against time and Iran’s military to locate a missing fighter jet crew reportedly shot down Friday, a retired Air Force general told AFP what it takes to hide and survive if parachuted into enemy territory.

“You’re like, ‘Oh my God, I was in a fighter jet two minutes ago, flying 500 miles an hour, and a missile just exploded, literally 15 feet from your head,’” said retired brigadier general Houston Cantwell, who is now at the Mitchell Institute for #Aerospace Studies.

That said, his or her training -- known as search, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE) -- would likely kick in before parachuting to the ground.

“The best #intelligence you’re going to get is as you’re floating to the ground,” Cantwell said in a telephone interview. “Your best view of where you may want to go or where you may want to avoid is while you’re coming down in your parachute.”

“Look around, because once you’re on the ground, you can’t see very far.”

Cantwell logged 400 hours of combat flight experience, including missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, and he trained at length for hard parachute landings.

Hitting the ground -- even with a parachute -- risks foot, ankle, and leg injuries, the former airman explained.

“There are many stories of survivors from #Vietnam that had severe injuries -- compound fractures -- just from the ejection,” he said.

Upon landing, “take an inventory of yourself to figure out, what condition am I in? Can I even move? Am I even mobile?”

Flight crew then start an assessment -- figuring out where they are, whether it is behind enemy lines, where they can hide, and how they can communicate.

“Try to avoid enemy capture, as long as you can,” Cantwell said. “And if I were in a desert environment, I’d want to try to find some water.”

Simultaneously, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) teams -- highly-trained soldiers and pilots already on alert -- would be activated.

“It gives you tremendous peace of mind, knowing that you know they’re going to do everything they can to come get you,” Cantwell said. “But at the same time they’re not going to come on a suicide mission.”

That’s where the missing crewmember can, potentially, increase the odds of a safe rescue.

On the ground, “my priority would be, first of all, concealment, because I don’t want to be captured,” he said. “I want to try to get to a location where I can get extracted.”

In a city, that may be a rooftop. In a rural setting, a field where helicopters can land. Movement is best at night, he said.

American pilots do have a small kit in their ejection chair or on their flight suit to assist them.

“That’s going to be some basic sustenance, water (and) some survival equipment,” he said. “It’s going to have some communication equipment, radio, all these types of things to be able to try to get to get picked up as quickly as possible.”

Cantwell said that when he flew an F-16 jet, he also carried a pistol.

On Friday, an F-15E Strike Eagle crashed in southwestern Iran, according to media reports, with the pilot rescued by US special forces. The fate of the weapons operator -- who sits behind the pilot during flight -- remains unknown.

#DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — One crew member has been rescued after an American aircraft went down in Iran, according to one U.S. and one Israeli official, who both spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive ongoing military operations.

The rescue occurred as the U.S. #military was conducting a search and rescue operation, according to three people familiar who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the situation. Israel is helping the United States with the search and rescue operation.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that U.S. President Donald Trump had been briefed but did not offer any additional information.

It was the first time the U.S. has lost aircraft in Iranian territory and constitutes a dramatic escalation in the war since it began five weeks ago. It was not clear if the jet was shot down or crashed.

#Iran fired on targets across the Mideast on Friday, as Tehran kept the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors, despite U.S. and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed.

Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.
Television anchor urges residents to hand over pilot

Social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region where a TV channel affiliated with Iranian state television had said earlier Friday that at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.

An anchor on the channel urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward for anyone who did. The channel is in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, an intensely rural and mountainous region that spans over 15,500 square kilometers (5,900 square miles).

Authorities also urged the public to search for the pilot in neighboring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.

The number of crew on board was not immediately known. The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command didn’t immediately respond to several messages seeking comment.

Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time that Iran went on television urging the public to look for a suspected downed pilot.

An on-screen crawl earlier urged the public to “shoot them if you see them,” referring to social media footage circulating of what appeared to be U.S. aircraft in the area. The channel showed metal debris in the back of a pickup truck while making the announcement but provided no other immediate details.
Iran targets a desalination plant and a refinery

The claim came after Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery came under Iranian attack, and the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said firefighters were working to control several blazes.

Kuwait also said an Iranian attack caused “material damage” to a desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states, and they have become a major target in the war.

Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, and Israel reported incoming missiles.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile interception reportedly rained debris on it and started a fire.

Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit. A day earlier, Iran said the U.S. hit a major bridge, which was still under construction, killing eight people.

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group, an Israeli drone strike on worshippers leaving Friday prayers near Beirut killed two people, according to the state‑run National News Agency

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a U.S.-based group, said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites “rather than indiscriminate bombardment” of urban areas.

More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Iran is keeping a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz

World leaders have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.

The U.N. Security Council was expected to take up the matter on Saturday.

Trump has vacillated on America’s role in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it doesn’t open the waterway and telling other nations to “go get your own oil.” On Friday, he said in a post on social media that, “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”

Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, were around $109 Friday, up more than 50 per cent since the start of the war, when Iran began restricting traffic through the strait.
Iran’s former top diplomat suggests terms to end the war

Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif -- a diplomat with long experience negotiating with the West who remains close to a pragmatic wing of Iran’s leadership -- wrote on Friday in Foreign Affairs magazine that the time has come to end what he referred to as a stalemate.

The U.S. and Iran have proposed dueling plans, and Zarif’s proposal included elements of both in a sign part of Iran’s leadership might be willing to negotiate.

Iran “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 wrote.

It’s not clear how much to read into the proposal from Zarif, who has no official position in Iran’s government, but would likely not have published such a piece without at least some authorization from senior leaders.

Jon Gambrell, David Rising and Sam Mednick, The Associated Press

Rising reported from Bangkok and Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.

1 crew member rescued after U.S. fighter jet goes down in Iran, AP sources say

Pete Hegseth fires two more generals, David Hodne and William Green Jr., alongside Army Chief Of Staff Randy George — Reuters

The situation around Iran must be resolved as soon as possible, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty as he pushed for collective efforts toward that goal, involving countries outside the region, too.

"Of course, in the present-day situation, there is a need not only for regional countries to take collective action amid the situation on the negotiating track that changes by the day and even by the hour," Shoigu said.

According to him, everybody is extremely concerned about the situation in the Middle East. "Hopefully a solution, a way out will be found as soon as possible," the top Russian security official stated.

Gulf states seek #UN mandate for force to protect #Hormuz.

UNITED STATES - The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called Thursday for the UN Security Council to authorize the use of force to protect the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.

Iran has placed a stranglehold on the key shipping lane -- threatening fuel supplies and roiling the global economy -- in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that triggered the month-old Middle East war.

“Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, prevented commercial vessels and oil tankers from transiting, and imposed conditions on some to pass through the strait,” said the GCC Secretary-General, Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi.

He was speaking in New York at the first Security Council meeting on cooperation with the GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.

“We call upon the Security Council to assume its full responsibility and take all necessary measures to protect maritime routes and ensure the safe continuation of international navigation,” AlBudaiwi said.

Bahrain has proposed a draft resolution that would greenlight states to use “all necessary means” to assure free transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

However, the measure has divided the 15-member Security Council.

According to diplomatic sources, Russia, China and France -- who each hold veto privileges -- have voiced strong objections despite several modifications to the text.

“The use of force cannot bring peace. Political settlement is the fundamental way forward,” said Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong.

“Authorizing member states to use force would amount to legitimizing the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences,” he added.

Russia, a long-time ally of Tehran, says it will not support what it calls one-sided measures that fail to address the root causes of the conflict.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has said a military operation to free the strait is “unrealistic.”

A fifth version of the draft text, which the United States supports, was distributed to member states on Thursday and emphasizes any force would be “defensive in nature.”

“No country should be able to hold the world’s economies hostage to try to gain leverage in a dispute,” U.S. Ambassador Mike Walz told the Security Council.

Around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.

Its near-total closure is impacting global supplies of important commodities including oil, liquefied natural gas and fertilizer. That has led to a sharp rise in energy prices.

This small city has the world’s worst air:
Last year, according to Swiss company IQAir, it had the world’s worst air quality.

Here, fumes from factories, exhaust from traffic and dust from construction produce a toxic mix that makes breathing an act of endurance for its 700,000 residents.

“Forget coughing, even breathing is difficult here,” said Manoj Kumar, 45, an e-rickshaw driver, who has lived in Loni his whole life.

Resident Mohammad Mohmin Khan said the pollution is so inescapable that he wears a mask every time he steps onto the city’s poorly paved roads.

“It’s here 24 hours a day,” he said. “No matter where you go.”

To determine the list of most polluted cities, IQ Air looked at fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, one of the smallest but most dangerous pollutants.

Last year, Loni’s average PM2.5 concentration was 112.5, according to IQ Air – 22 times the World Health Organization’s safe limit.

When inhaled, PM2.5 particulates travel deep into lung tissue where it can enter the bloodstream, and has been linked to asthma, heart and lung disease, cancer, and other respiratory illnesses, as well as cognitive impairment in children.

Dr. Anil Singh, who runs a clinic in Loni, said the number of patients he has seen with respiratory issues has increased in the last five years.

“I have particularly seen kids coming at a very young age with the symptoms of early asthma,” he said. “I can clearly say exposure to the environment is one of the prominent factors.”
World’s most polluted cities, 2025

Loni, India
Hotan, China
Byrnihat, India
Delhi, India
Faisalbad, Pakistan
Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan
Ghaziabad, India
Lahore, Pakistan
Sukkur, Pakistan
Ula, India

Source: IQ Air World Air Quality Report 2025
Increased sickness

Three of the world’s top five most polluted cities last year were in India, according to IQ Air, with New Delhi once again emerging as the world’s most polluted capital.

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TERMEZ , Republic of #Uzbekistan , April 1 . The negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian crisis are currently "on pause" amid US and Israeli aggression against Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the Russia-Uzbekistan conference organized by the Valdai International Discussion Club and the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the Uzbek President.

"In recent months several rounds of trilateral talks between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine have been held to find ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis politically and diplomatically. Currently, the negotiations remain on pause amid the US-Israeli aggression against Iran. We assume that we are ready to continue the discussions. However, it’s not just the regularity or frequency of the rounds that matters, but the substantive nature of the agenda is crucial," he said.

The Russian side has always been and remains open to finding ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict politically and diplomatically through negotiations, Galuzin added.

#OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is choosing his words carefully after the head of #Norad suggested advanced aircraft like the F-35 are not critical to continental defence.

Asked about the fighter jet contract at a news conference today, Carney said his government is still considering a range of factors in its review of plans to purchase a fleet of F-35s.

Those include Canada’s defence requirements, interoperability, value for money and broader economic benefits.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot inadvertently contributed to the political debate in Canada over the fighter jet procurement when he told a congressional panel earlier this month that fifth-generation fighter jets like the F-35 are “frankly” not needed to defend North America’s borders.

The Norad commander said such advanced stealth fighters are better suited to attacking targets overseas.

The prime minister didn’t say if he has read his own government’s F-35 review report, and did not offer any hints on a timeline for completing the procurement review he ordered last year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2026