Iran War Enters 35th Day: F-15 Shot Down 

The Iran War entered its 35th day Friday with reports that an American F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iranian territory overnight, with Iranian media posting photos of the ejected seats and debris to X.

An Iranian official told Drop Site News that the U.S. fighter jet was brought down by Iranian air defenses and crashed in southern Tehran Province, with intense fire reported at the impact site. The official said the force of the strike likely prevented the crew from ejecting before the aircraft went down, and that no remains had been recovered as of Friday. There are conflicting reports over whether any military personnel may have successfully evacuated from the jet before it was shot down. 

Tasnim News Agency later reported that U.S. forces mounted a combat search-and-rescue effort involving Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 aircraft in an attempt to recover the pilot or crew, but claimed the mission had failed.

President Donald Trump celebrated a double tap strike on a highway bridge linking Tehran to Karaj. The attack killed eight and wounded 95, with the second strike hitting rescue workers as they responded, according to Fars News. Trump posted footage to Truth Social of the initial bridge attack, celebrating the strike with the caption, “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — much more to follow!” Trump threatened that “IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!”

Trump on Friday requested a 44 percent increase in U.S. defense spending to $1.5 trillion for the next fiscal year, arguing the wartime surge is needed to rebuild “the foundations of American military power.” The White House said the request includes $1.1 trillion for the Pentagon, plus another $350 billion for munitions production and expansion of the defense industrial base. “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care,” Trump said Wednesday at a closed-door Easter lunch event.

Two days after directing foreign governments to “go get your own oil,” Trump on Friday said that the U.S. could open the Strait, posting on Truth Social that “with a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE,” even as commercial traffic through the chokepoint remains severely restricted and Iran moves to formalize a controlled transit regime.

Three Oman-linked vessels, including two loaded crude tankers and an empty LNG carrier, successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz along a route hugging Oman’s coastline, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. The LNG vessel was the first of its kind to exit the Gulf since the war began.

The UAE recorded its highest number of Iranian attacks in a single day since early March, the Emirati defense ministry said Friday, claiming that Emirati air defenses intercepted 47 drones, 18 ballistic missiles, and four cruise missiles. UAE’s Habshan gas facility suspended operations after debris from an intercepted missile caused a fire.

The IRGC claimed Thursday that it struck a data center linked to Oracle in Dubai and an Amazon Web Services facility in Bahrain. Bahrain’s interior minister confirmed to the FT that the ME-SOUTH-1 (Bahrain) AWS site, operated by telecom company Batelco, was hit and that the attack had caused a fire.

A Kuwaiti desalination plant was struck on Friday, causing “material damage” to some components; about 90 percent of the country’s drinking water comes from desalination. 

The price of Brent crude rose to $109 before markets closed Thursday, while gas prices remained elevated. AAA reported the national average price of regular gas at $4.09 per gallon Friday.