A second Air Force combat plane crashed in the Gulf region today, according to US officials cited by the New York Times.

The pilot of the A-10 Warthog attack aircraft was safely rescued following the incident that unfolded near to the Strait of Hormuz.

It happened at around the same time a US fighter jet with two crew members on board was shot down over Iran today.

One pilot has been rescued and another remains unaccounted for.

The picture below is a file photo of a A-10 Warthog attack aircraft.

Shocking footage appears to show Iranians shooting at a low-flying US rescue plane.

It comes after Iranian media incentivized civilians to capture the American pilots of a US fighter jet that was shot down over Iran.

Civilians were promised a ‘valuable reward’ by the female anchor if they successfully bring in the pilots.

This is the moment Iranian police appeared to shoot at US rescue crews searching for a missing pilot.

Helicopters could be seen flying low over Iran after a F-15 fighter jet was shot down on Friday.

US officials confirmed that while two Blackhawk choppers were hit both managed to land safely.

Iran has claimed it downed a US jet on Friday using its ‘new advanced defence system’.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al Anbiya central headquarters, said the moved highlighted ‘false claims’ made by President Trump that the US had destroyed Tehran’s air defence system.

He added that ‘an advanced hostile fighter jet was also targeted south of Qeshm Island, crashing into the waters between Qeshm and Hengam Islands’.

By Ross Ibbetson

America’s most senior Catholic military cleric has warned that Donald Trump’s Iran war is unjustified and suggested troops should avoid following orders.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services and one of America’s most conservative bishops, called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s invocations of Jesus Christ to justify the war ‘problematic.’

Broglio said Trump’s strikes on Iran were not justified under Saint Augustine’s just war theory, in an interview set to air on CBS’s Face the Nation on Easter Sunday.

The theory holds that war is only morally permissible when punishing wrongdoing or defending the innocent, and always with the ultimate aim of restoring peace rather than for revenge or conquest.

Read the full story below:

Several loud explosions have been reported in Tehran.

Iran’s Fars news agency said air defences were activated in the capital. It was not immediately clear what was targeted.

Blasts have also been heard in Karaj, located west of Tehran.

Two US military helicopters that were involved in the search for a missing pilot from a downed fighter jet have been struck by Iranian fire.

All service members on the helicopters are safe, a US official said.

Two helicopters can be seen in this footage, which appears to show the US rescue mission in Iran.

Israel destroyed a bridge in eastern Lebanon today after the IDF warned it would hit infrastructure in the country to prevent the transfer of reinforcements to Hezbollah.

‘Israeli warplanes targeted the bridge that links Sohmor with Mashghara, leading to its destruction,’ the state-run National News Agency said.

Israel’s military had warned that ‘in order to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and military equipment… the IDF (army) intends to target the Sohmor and Mashghara bridges’.

They also published a map identifying two bridges within around 100 metres of each other.

Donald Trump has said the shooting down of a US jet over Iran today won’t affect his negotiations to end the war in the Middle East.

He told NBC News when asked if there would be any impact on talks:

No, not at all.

No, it’s war. We’re in war.

At least 13 people are now confirmed to have died following strikes on a bridge in Karaj – a city near Tehran in the Alborz province.

The B1 bridge was targeted in two waves of strikes on Thursday after Donald Trump threatened to bomb Tehran ‘back to the ‘Stone Age’.

The second attack on the 136-metre structure took place while rescue forces were at the scene helping injured at least 95 people.

Footage showed smoke lingering in the air before an enormous blast caused an even thicker plume to rise into the sky.

The strike caused major damage to the bridge, the tallest in the Middle East, and a gaping hole can be seen in the middle of the structure.

Iran has claimed it targeted an ‘enemy’ A-10 aircraft in southern waters near the Hormuz Strait, the nation’s state media said on Friday.

The New York Times reported earlier that a second US Air Force combat plane had crashed in the Gulf region today.

The aircraft’s pilot was rescued, US officials said.

A US search helicopter that was hit by a projectile in Iran is understood to have landed safely.

The Blackhawk helicopter was struck while conducting a rescue operation for a missing pilot from a fighter jet that was shot down in Iran this afternoon.

US media outlet Newsmax said the aircraft managed to leave Iranian airspace and land safely.