LIVE: Iran claims second US F-35 fighter jet shot down over Tehran

Here are the latest developments from Middle East on the 35th day of the US-Israel war with Iran:

• Iran has launched new attacks on Gulf energy sites with strikes on a desalination plant and oil refinery in Kuwait as well as a gas complex in Abu Dhabi
• Iran has claimed it has shot down a second US F-35 fighter jet forcing it to crash
• Donald Trump has said Iran’s electric power plants will be targeted after he boasted about a strike on the country’s tallest bridge
• Multiple fires have broken out at a Kuwaiti oil refinery after a drone attack
• Israel’s military has said cars, houses and a train station have been damaged in the latest missile salvo from Iran
• A French owned container ship sails through Strait of Hormuz in the first known transit linked to Western Europe
• Australians are cancelling their Easter holidays because of rising fears of fuel supplies in the country
• Pakistan has hiked petrol prices by more than 50 per cent – the second increase to costs in a month

Stick with us for the latest developments throughout the day.

The Iranian military has claimed two US fighter jets have been downed including a F-35 over central Iran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the feared military arm of the Iranian regime, said the F-35 was shot down by its air defences with the pilot unlikely to survive as a result, according to a statement carried by Mehr news agency.

Iran said it also attacked an ‘enemy’ fighter jet over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz but US military refuted the ‘false claim’ which it said had been made ‘at least half a dozen times’.

Last night Donald Trump boasted about an attack on Iran’s tallest bridge yesterday and warned power plants will become the next targets as the US steps up its attacks.

The US military ‘hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then ​Electric Power Plants,’ Trump wrote on social media.

Stick with us for the latest developments across the Middle East.

Britain is deploying its Rapid Sentry air defence system to Kuwait to help protect British and Kuwaiti interests in the Gulf following an Iranian attack on an oil refinery.

Sir Keir Starmer discussed the deployment in a call with Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah earlier this morning, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

‘The Prime Minister began by condemning the reckless overnight drone attack on a Kuwaiti oil refinery,’ the spokesperson said. ‘He reiterated that the UK stands with Kuwait and all our allies in the Gulf.’

The spokesperson said the leaders discussed the deployment of the UK’s air defence system – designed primarily to shoot down drones and other low-flying aerial threats – to Kuwait, which would protect Kuwaiti and British personnel and interests in the region, while avoiding escalation into a wider conflict.

Bangladesh has cut office and shop hours and banned decorative lighting at weddings starting in an effort to save energy following the Iran war.

Bangladesh imports 95 per cent of its oil and gas needs, mostly from the Middle East and said that, while there are adequate stocks of petrol and diesel, it hopes to mitigate the effects of ‘unsecured’ supply lines.

About 60 percent of its electricity is generated using imported gas, while diesel is primarily used for farming in the region.

Dhaka ordered all government, private offices and banks to shut an hour earlier each day starting Friday until further notice.

Shopping centres, which normally stay open late, will now shut by 6 pm, although stores selling food supplies are expected to keep their usual hours.

Decorative lighting, which was initially banned at malls, has now been extended to include weddings.

Tehran has today claimed it shot down a second US F-35 fighter jet forcing it to crash over central Iran.

The US is yet to comment on the claims but has regularly debunked other Iranian claims on X.

Some observers have questioned the latest claims by Iran and say the squadron markings shown in the supposed wreckage indicate a F-15 plane instead of a F-35.

One wrote on X: ‘Iranians claimed that it was a downed F-35, but a closer look at the wreckage indicates F-15.’

While one of our readers pointed out: ‘It’s either an F-35 or F-15 as the squadron markings on the images circulating show it is based in Lakenheath where both F-35 and F-15 are based. Looks like it hit the ground vertically, so smashed into millions of small pieces so it’s hard to be sure.’

All mass services in Dubai have been cancelled ahead of Easter because of the Iran war.

Two Catholic churches in the UAE confirmed the cancellations on their websites today following government directives.

‘all Masses at our Church are cancelled until further notice,’ St Francis of Assisi Church at Jebel Ali in Dubai posted.

The Jebel Ali coastal area has been hit several times by missiles and drones fired by Iran at neighbouring Gulf states in retaliation for the Israeli-US offensive launched on February 28.

‘Parishioners are requested to refrain from visiting the Church premises, in the interest of safety and community well-being,’ the announcement added.

St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dubai published a similar announcement on its website, and said Good Friday’s mass would be live-streamed online instead, on the church’s YouTube channel.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stressed his country can help unblock the Strait of Hormuz amid fears of a global energy crisis.

Iran has placed a stranglehold on the key shipping lane – threatening fuel supplies and roiling the world economy – in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war.

‘No one has involved us specifically in the issue of the Strait of Hormuz. During my visits, I told representatives of the Middle East and Gulf countries: Ukraine is ready to help with everything related to defence,’ Zelensky said.

He made the remarks while speaking to journalists, including the AFP news agency.

He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv’s experience in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked at the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine.

The Thai-flagged cargo ship Mayuree Naree was attacked last month

Human remains have been found aboard a cargo ship struck by Iran while transiting the Strait of Hormuz last month, the vessel’s owner has said.

Three crew members of the Thai-flagged Mayuree Naree were reported missing following the attack on March 11.

The ship was struck while travelling through the strait after departing Khalifa port in the UAE.

‘Certain human remains were found within the affected area of the vessel,’ a statement from transport company Precious Shipping said, adding it could not yet confirm the identities or the number of individuals.

Twenty Thai crew members returned home in mid-March, while three of their colleagues were missing and presumed trapped in the damaged engine compartment.

This is the moment captured a selfie with a tail section of an Iranian ballistic missile that became stuck in the ground.

The man took the picture earlier today near a cowshed in a Jewish settlement in the northern Jordan Valley, West Bank.

Israel’s emergency services say one man has been injured after a cluster munition from an Iranian ballistic missile struck a home in Kiryat Ata, near Haifa.

Magen David Adom says that a 79-year-old man was wounded after he was struck by stone debris caused by the shockwave of the impact.

Several cluster munition impacts have been reported in and around Haifa following Iran’s latest missile barrage.

Israeli authorities say damage was caused to roads and cars.

On Monday an Indian worker was killed at a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait following an attack which was widely condemned across the Gulf.

‘A service building at a power and water desalination plant was attacked as part of the Iranian aggression against the State of Kuwait, resulting in the death of an Indian worker and significant material damage to the building,’ Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity said in a statement on Monday.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman all condemned the attack on the plant which produces fresh drinking water for people across Kuwait.

Iran later claimed Israel was behind the attack.

by Patrick Harrington, UK News Reporter

Iran still has half its missile launchers intact and an arsenal of thousands of drones, US intelligence sources have claimed.

The regime remains capable of ‘wreaking absolute havoc’ in the Middle East, they warned, despite weeks of US-Israeli bombardment against its assets.

Three well-placed sources told CNN that the latest American intelligence assessments indicate Iran retains significant firepower.

The estimates may include launchers that are inaccessible, such as those that have been buried by strikes, but not destroyed.

Iran still has access to roughly half of its original drone stock, two of the sources suggested, which would number well into the thousands.