The search for an American crew member missing behind enemy lines in a rural stretch of Iran continued Saturday — as the US raced to find them before armed Bakhtiari tribesman tribesmen eager to collect a bounty offered by the regime.

The status of the missing co-pilot remained unknown late Saturday. 

The White House has not publicly commented on the incident since White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump had been briefed.

US Central Command did not return a request for comment.

The pilot and co-pilot were forced to bail out of the F-15E Strike Eagle, a two-seater plane, after it was shot down Friday over Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, near Iraq. 

The search for the missing American unfolded as Trump — who stayed in Washington for the Easter weekend — warned Iran it would face “hell” if it didn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping by the president’s deadline.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed it shot down the high performance fighter, and the Iranian government dangled a $60,000 reward for the crew member’s capture – while urging local villagers to find them first.

“If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize,” said an announcer on a local TV station. The directive came after an earlier instruction to shoot the pilot if they were found, according to Turkiye Today.

Villagers and Bakhtiari tribesman were seen in footage posted to social media fanning out across the region’s dry, mountainous terrain hunting for the missing crew member.

“The people of the province, especially tribesmen and villagers, have taken up personal weapons to patrol and search across the province’s mountains and plains, ready to fight enemy forces if encountered,” according to the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian regime.

“Don’t worry, we will find them, God willing,” says one armed tribesman in a video from Iranian social media.

The tribesmen also reportedly shot at at two US Black Hawk helicopters, who had joined the search for the missing crew member, with hunting rifles, according to the Telegraph.

The downed F-15E Strike Eagle was taking part in the US-Israel air campaign against Iran which began Feb. 28.

The F-15E Strike Eagle’s pilot was rescued within hours and was receiving medical treatment after US special forces carried out a daring rescue, officials said.

Experts had hoped the US military might be able to execute a retrieval operation for the second crew member under cover of darkness, where the US has superior military night-vision capabilities.

Meanwhile Saturday, the war continued as Israel struck infrastructure targets in Tehran.

Israeli Defense Forces targeted petrochemical facilities in southern Iran which the IDF said were used to make ballistic missiles materials.

The strikes were said to have halted production and cause billions in damage, according to the Times of Israel.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran also said debris from an Israeli airstrike hit near the perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear facility – killing a guard and damaging a building.

An apparent Iranian drone damaged US tech giant Oracle’s Dubai headquarters, while Israel reported yet another volley of Iranian missiles headed its way.

“Authorities confirm that they responded to a minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade of the Oracle building in Dubai Internet City. No injuries were reported,” the tech firm’s Dubai office posted on X. 

Meanwhile, an Iranian lawmaker in Tehran vowed the country wasn’t backing down in its conflict with the United States and Israel — claiming it would target Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if it got the chance.

“Wherever we can reach Trump or other senior US and Israeli officials, we will send them to hell, and we are not joking or showing leniency in this matter,” Tehran MP Kamran Ghazanfari said Saturday.

With Post wires