RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Crews made progress Saturday battling a smoky wildfire in southern California that broke out a day earlier and prompted mandatory evacuations.
Encompassing roughly 6.3 square miles (about 16 square kilometers) in Riverside County, about 64 miles (103 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, the Springs Fire was at least 45% percent contained on Saturday, a fire department spokesperson said. It was 25% contained on Friday.
While gusts up to 45 mph (72 kph) were predicted Saturday, Terra Fernandez, public safety information specialist for the Riverside County Fire Department, said winds had “dissipated a bit” since Friday, helping the efforts of fire crews.
“We’re feeling confident. The winds have died down so it’s assisting us in making more progress," she said. Fernandez also credited efforts to build and strengthen containment lines around the fire perimeter.
“We have natural equestrian trails around where a lot of the structures are and so that helps our firefighters make access.” she said. “And the humidity increasing this evening will also help.”
So far, no structures have been damaged or destroyed, Fernandez said.
Crews began early Saturday dropping water and retardant all around the fire by air. About 260 personnel are battling the blaze, including crews from around the region who are building and strengthening the containment lines and laying hose, she said.
Less than a dozen zones in the county remained under mandatory evacuation orders, while evacuation warnings in other parts of the county were lifted. It was not immediately known how many households were affected by the orders.
The fire is located in a populated unincorporated part of Riverside County that's a recreational area near the city of Moreno Valley, which has a population of roughly 200,000.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Pechanga Fire Department firefighters monitor the smoky and fast-growing wildfire Springs Fire in Moreno Valley, Calif., Friday, April 3, 2026. (Terry Pierson /The Orange County Register via AP)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The U.S. military on Saturday searched for a missing pilot shot down over a remote area in Iran, while President Donald Trump remained silent on the incident but reminded Tehran of his Monday deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz: “48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
The U.S. warplane, identified by Iran as a F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued. Iran has promised a reward for whoever turns in the missing pilot. It's the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, which could further pressure Trump to end the fighting.
Iran's joint military command on Saturday claimed it also struck two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters the day before, but The Associated Press could not independently verify that.
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. It shows no signs of slowing as Iran responds with attacks across the region.
Trump earlier in the week said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.” The U.S. and Israel boasted that Iran’s air defenses were obliterated.
But on Saturday, an apparent Iranian drone damaged the headquarters of U.S. technology company Oracle in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets and infrastructure in the war.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that an airstrike hit near its Bushehr nuclear facility, killing a security guard and damaging a support building. It's the fourth time the facility was targeted. The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said that 198 workers were being evacuated.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told the AP that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track.” Last week, Pakistan said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that they “have never refused to go to Islamabad.”
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt are working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials. They said that they were working on bridging the gap between the two sides' demands to stop the war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
The search for the U.S. pilot focused on a mountainous region in Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released information, but in an email from the Pentagon, obtained by the AP, the military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without further details.
A U.S. crew member was rescued. But the Pentagon notified the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member wasn't known.
In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump said that what happened wouldn't affect negotiations with Iran.
Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iran's defense forces. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said that it wasn't clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down. The crew's status was not immediately known.
An anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police, a first in the war. Iran previously made claims about shooting down piloted aircraft that turned out not to be true.
The Dubai headquarters of Oracle was hit after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened the firm. Footage verified by the AP outside the U.A.E. showed a large hole in the building's southwestern corner.
The sheikhdom’s Dubai Media Office, which speaks for its government, noted a “minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade," saying there were no injuries.
Oracle Corp., based in Austin, Texas, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Guard has accused some large U.S. tech companies of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations against the Islamic Republic and called them legitimate targets. Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain were hit in earlier drone strikes.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab-el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.
“What share of global oil, LNG, wheat, rice, and fertilizer shipments transits the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait?” Qalibaf wrote, referring to liquefied natural gas. “Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?”
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and there have been more than 1 million displaced people. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Konstantin Toropin, Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington, contributed to this report.
Travelers arrive to cross into Turkey at the Razi border crossing, in Razi, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026.(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli security forces inspect damage at an apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)
A photographer takes pictures of damage at Shahid Beheshti University after U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Friday in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Travelers approach on foot the border crossing with Turkey at the Razi crossing in Razi, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A row of chairs is seen through a hole left by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Friday at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Iraqi women hold a portrait of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in the Shi'ite district of Kazimiyah in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A woman checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
