As fighting over the Strait of Hormuz continues, stories of U.S. heroism are emerging. A pilot known by the call sign “Bravo” recounts his emergency ejection over Iran and the dramatic rescue that brought him home from behind enemy lines.
Pinned
Air Force colonel shot down over Iran reveals desperate prayer in 50-hour fight to survive
An Air Force colonel shot down over Iran survived a terrifying fall, three broken bones and a two-day enemy manhunt after turning to God as his damaged parachute sent him plunging toward the desert.
The colonel, identified only by his mission call sign “Bravo,” revealed in a new interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” how a desperate prayer began an extraordinary 50-hour fight to make it home alive.
“At one point when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” Bravo said in his first public account of the April ordeal. “So I paused, right then, and I prayed, ‘Lord, your will be done. But if I’m getting through this, I need help.’
The colonel was the weapons systems officer seated behind the pilot of an F-15E Strike Eagle operating under the call sign Dude 44 when an Iranian shoulder-fired missile struck the aircraft April 2, according to CBS News.
The two-man crew had been assigned to attack industrial facilities tied to Iran’s drone and missile program near a mountainous region south of Isfahan, U.S. Central Command leader Adm. Brad Cooper told the outlet.
“We had air superiority, but clearly we weren’t flying over Kansas,” Cooper said.
Oil prices jump 3% as Saudi pipeline outage deepens war supply fears
Oil prices surged more than 3% on Monday as attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and shipping routes intensified fears the Iran war could further disrupt global crude supplies.
Brent crude rose $3 to $107.61 a barrel after touching $108.65, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate climbed $2.48 to $102.53.
The latest jump followed a drone attack that temporarily shut Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, a critical route used to move crude from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
The outage could threaten up to 4% of global oil supply if it persists, with inventories at the Red Sea port of Yanbu sufficient to cover only about five to seven days of exports.
The pressure comes after Brent gained roughly 9% last week as attacks escalated across the region, pushing the global benchmark above $100 a barrel for the first time since July.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Iran objects to US blocking Iran nuclear chief from Vienna atomic meeting
The United States blocked Iran’s nuclear chief from attending this week’s U.N. atomic watchdog conference in Vienna by opposing a sanctions exemption that would have allowed him to travel, drawing protests from Tehran and Moscow.
“The cancellation and so-called legal justification advanced for it are a stark indication of a political act and advanced formal politicization of this organization,” Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA told the conference.
Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, had been expected to attend the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference, but Austria revoked his visa after a U.N. sanctions committee denied a travel exemption.
U.S. Ambassador Preston Wells Griffith III said his country had objected in New York to an exemption being granted, and that was why the application was denied.
“The United States objected to the exemption request, which per the rules of the U.N. sanctions committee resulted in the U.N. Security Council denying the request,” he said.
“His [Eslami’s] participation would have only resulted in Iran exploiting IAEA proceedings as a stage for propaganda while sidestepping substantive cooperation, undermining the credibility of the very body charged with verifying its nuclear commitments.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
Energy Secretary Wright: Hormuz oil flows keep climbing, recovery will continue
Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are continuing to rise despite the war with Iran, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, offering a fresh sign that Washington is making progress restoring traffic through the critical energy chokepoint.
“The trend in that seven-day rolling average has been going up and will continue to go up,” Wright said at a news conference at a meeting for the U.N. nuclear watchdog Monday, adding that a peak of 17 million barrels in one day he cited Sept. 1 was in fact higher: “There was one ship not counted. It turned out it was almost spot on 18 million barrels that day.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
Iran threatens 77 vessels over violation of its Strait of Hormuz rules
Iran has identified 77 vessels it says violated its rules for navigating the Strait of Hormuz, threatening them with fines, detention or confiscation as shipping through the key oil chokepoint remains severely disrupted by the war.
Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority published the updated list Monday and warned insurers, P&I clubs and classification societies against providing services to the vessels, Reuters reported.
The authority said ships that cooperate with its requirements would be removed from the list.
The warning comes as concerns over global energy supplies deepen following attacks around major oil transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Commodity vessel traffic through Hormuz fell to single digits per day over the weekend, according to preliminary ship-tracking data cited by Reuters, below a 10-day average of 14 transits.
Those figures do not include ships that have crossed with their Automatic Identification System transponders switched off to avoid detection, which U.S. Central Command and the Trump administration have long contended is the case.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Energy Secretary Wright: Saudi Arabia has no plans to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday there are no plans for uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia, a notable clarification as nuclear cooperation and regional security remain under scrutiny during the Iran war.
The comment in Vienna comes as concerns over nuclear proliferation have sharpened amid the conflict with Iran and renewed focus on civilian nuclear programs across the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has pursued plans to develop nuclear energy, but domestic uranium enrichment has long been one of the most sensitive issues in any potential nuclear cooperation agreement with Washington.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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