U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz by his Monday deadline as U.S. officials say a service member missing after Iran shot down jet has been rescued.
The downing of two U.S. warplanes and Iran’s call to find the “enemy pilot” had again raised the stakes in the war, now in its sixth week.
Early Sunday, two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement said the service member had been rescused after a frantic search-and-rescue operation. A second crew member had been rescued earlier.
The war began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
Here is the latest:
US service member missing after Iran shot down jet rescued
U.S. officials say that a service member missing after Iran shot down fighter jet has been rescued.
That’s according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.
It comes after a frantic search-and-rescue operation. The crew member had been missing since Friday, when Iran downed a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle. A second crew member had been rescued earlier.
By Matthew Lee and Konstantin Toropin
Senegal limits foreign trips for officials as the fallout from Iran war deepens
The country banned all but essential foreign trips for government ministers as part of cost-saving measures triggered by the energy crisis linked to the war.
Senegal, like many African countries, imports most of the petroleum products it consumes. That leaves its economy vulnerable to supply disruptions such as the chokehold on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which has sent the price of crude soaring.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said his office is taking steps to limit public expenditure, pointing out that initial budget forecasts were based on an oil price of $62 per barrel. It is now almost double that.
“I have taken a number of drastic measures to restrict everything related to government spending, including the cancellation of all nonessential missions abroad,” the government-owned newspaper Le Soleil quoted Sonko as saying.
He added that he canceled several trips, including to Niger, Spain and France.
Housing market trends favor home shoppers, but Iran war clouds the outlook for mortgage rates
The economic fallout from the war is driving up the cost of buying a home, even as other housing market trends in many parts of the country favor home shoppers this spring.
Mortgage rates have been rising since the war began, as surging energy prices heighten worries about higher inflation, pushing up the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
As recently as the last week of February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped to just under 6%, its lowest level in more than three and a half years. It climbed this week to 6.46%, its highest level in nearly seven months.
“The war in Iran has seriously complicated the spring buying season,” said Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com. “I expect that many buyers will be put off by rising rates and mounting economic uncertainty, choosing to bide their time rather than jumping on board for a purchase before rates go up.”
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