By Phil Stewart and Menna AlaaElDin
WASHINGTON/CAIRO, April 5 (Reuters) - U.S. special forces rescued an airman in a high-risk mission deep inside Iran while President Donald Trump threatened to rain "hell" on Tehran if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz for oil flows vital to the world economy.
Trump announced the rescue in the early hours of Sunday in a social media post that described the operation in a mountainous area as "one of the most daring" such missions in U.S. history.
The airman, the weapons officer of an F-15 jet shot down on Friday, was wounded but "will be just fine", Trump said in a message on X. The pilot was rescued on Friday.
In another post laden with expletives, Trump told Iran to open the Hormuz waterway by Tuesday. The conduit for around a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas supply has been largely shut down since the war began five weeks ago.
"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran," he said on his Truth Social platform, threatening to hit energy and transport infrastructure that critics say would violate international law.
"There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Adding to the pressure, Washington's ally in the war Israel, which attacked a major petrochemicals facility on Saturday, was preparing to attack energy facilities next week and was awaiting U.S. approval, a senior Israeli defence official said.
However, in the sort of mixed messaging that has baffled supporters and foes alike let alone financial markets, Trump told Fox News on Sunday that Iran was negotiating, with a deal possible by Monday.
Tehran is demanding an end to hostilities and its parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf condemned Trump's threats, saying he was being misled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands," he posted on X.
HOSTAGE CRISIS AVERTED
With the impact from the Strait's closure on the global economy deepening by the day, the rescue of the U.S. airman removed the risk for Trump of a hostage crisis further souring the mood of an American public already sceptical of the war.
A U.S. official said the operation, which Israel said it had assisted, involved dozens of military aircraft and encountered fierce resistance from Iranian forces.
Iran said several U.S. aircraft were destroyed during the operation, including two military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters. Footage posted on social media showed burned-out aircraft wreckage, which Reuters verified was in the area.
The loss of the F-15 last week - as well as an A-10 ground-attack aircraft in a separate incident - underlined the risks still facing U.S. and Israeli aircrew despite Trump's assertions of total control in the skies over Iran.
A senior administration official in Washington said the rescue had involved a CIA deception campaign spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found the missing airman and were moving him on the ground for exfiltration out of the country.
While the Iranians were confused and uncertain of what was happening, the missing weapons officer was located inside a mountain crevice and rescued, the official said in a statement.
The war, which opened with U.S. and Israeli air strikes across Iran on Feb. 28, has spread into Lebanon, where Israel has resumed its campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Thousands have died, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where Israeli airstrikes killed another 11 people on Sunday, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
PEACE EFFORTS FRUITLESS
But efforts brokered by Pakistan to bring the two sides to an agreement have so far been fruitless.
"What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.
Iran's chokehold over the narrow Strait of Hormuz shipping lane off its southern coast has given it powerful leverage. Crude prices have surged to a four-year high close to $120 a barrel, squeezing consumers and businesses across the globe.
Tehran has, however, said it would allow passage through the Strait for vessels without U.S. or Israeli connections and one tanker loaded with Iraqi crude and bound for Malaysia passed through, data from LSEG and Kpler showed.
Three Omani-operated tankers, a French-owned container ship and a Japanese-owned gas carrier have also gone through in recent days.
Tehran has continued to launch missile and drone attacks against Israel and on U.S. allies in the Gulf who are highly vulnerable to attacks on infrastructure like power and water desalination plants.
On Sunday, in response to Israeli attacks on petrochemical sites in Iran, Tehran hit petrochemicals plants in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. Iran also attacked an Israel-affiliated vessel with a drone in the Strait, setting the ship on fire, state media said.
Israeli media showed search-and-rescue teams combing debris and hunting survivors after a residential building was hit by an Iranian missile in Israel's northern city of Haifa. Israeli paramedics said they were treating nine patients.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux worldwide; Writing by James Mackenzie and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, William Mallard and William Maclean)
