Safari is no longer on my iphone

One other possibility is that Safari can be restricted using parental controls in restrictions or screen time. That would cause the icon to disappear.

Use parental controls on your child's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Does your device happen to have a device management profile installed on it? You can find this by going to settings > general > profiles. If you don't see the profiles section, you do not have one installed.

Did you try resetting the home screen?

Open Settings ➔ General ➔ Reset ➔ Reset Home Screen Layout.

Axel F.

Safari can’t be deleted. Start by checking all of your folders and alternate home screens. You can also swipe down and do a search.

True, however, OP stated that restriction settings were checked and I reluctantly bought that thought.

Axel F.

Yep, I missed that. Let’s see if we find out what happened.