A US fighter jet was shot down over Iran even as US President Donald Trump said the US “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran”. One of the two pilots of the downed jet had been rescued by the US forces, CBS News reported on Friday, citing two US officials.Trump’s comments came hours after an under-construction civilian road bridge was damaged near Tehran, killing eight.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, responding to Trump’s threat to send Iran “back to the Stone Age,” called it an admission of intent to commit a “massive war crime”. “This was the question I asked my Finnish counterpart, who is a jurist,” he said, referring to Alexander Stubb. “History is full of those who paid a heavy price for their silence in the face of criminals,” he said. An Iranian capture of a US pilot could be a turning point in the war and bad optics for Trump. Iranian media said the downed jet was an F-35. Two US sources told Reuters the plane was a two-seat F-15E and a search was underway.Iranian television announced that the country was offering a cash reward for anyone who could find the pilot. This is the second time Iran has hit a US jet. Three other jets of the US were downed, which Washington attributed to “friendly fire”.On the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump on Friday claimed that Washington could do it easily. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said with a “little more time, we can easily open Hormuz, take the oil and make a fortune”.In Washington, the Trump administration has requested the Congress to increase defence spending by an astonishing $1.5 trillion. Trump and his Cabinet have long pushed allies to increase their defence budgets.Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran was putting together a framework to administer and manage passage through the strait. However, countries that were hostile to Iran were not allowed to pass through. There had been consultations with Oman as the narrow water body sits between the two countries.The southern side of the Strait of Hormuz is controlled by Oman, yet the Iranian side is deeper; that’s why most ships prefer to pass through the Iranian side. It isn’t feasible for large vessels to pass through the Omani side.Major oil and gas exporters from the Gulf region rely on it to move supplies to international markets, while importing nations depend on its uninterrupted operation.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that 70 per cent of Iran’s steel production capacity has been destroyed by the combined US-Israeli air strikes, which have repeatedly targeted critical Iranian infrastructure and the country’s industrial base.Israel has threatened to destroy more of Lebanon’s bridges as Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon expands, spurring more fear, displacement and deadly attacks.Kuwait says a water desalination plant and an oil refinery have been struck by Iran as Gulf nations continue to face attacks from Tehran. A gas plant in the UAE was also targeted on Friday morning. Iran has also fired missiles at Israel, where homes and cars have been damaged.The UK is sending in an air defence system — Rapid Ranger — to Kuwait, a short-range system that is designed to counter drones.Iran’s Press TV has posted a clip of army spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warning that if the US continues to threaten strikes on Iranian power plants, Tehran will target regional energy infrastructure and telecommunications companies with American shareholders.The UN has warned that world food prices have climbed for a second consecutive month in March, reaching their highest level since December. The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks a basket of globally traded commodities, averaged 128.5 points last month, up 2.4 per cent from February.Meanwhile, oil prices have surged following Trump’s renewed threats to destroy Iranian infrastructure. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose about 8 per cent on Friday, topping $109 a barrel.At least 2,076 people have been killed and 26,500 wounded by the US-Israeli attacks across Iran since February 28.