BREAKING NEWS: U.S. fighter jet downed over Iran, search and rescue mission underway, officials say
IRAN (NBC) -- An F-15 fighter jet pilot has been rescued alive by the U.S. military after their aircraft went down over Iran, a U.S. official said Friday. The aircraft appears to have been shot down by Iran, and a U.S. military search was ongoing for those on board, U.S. officials said.
The rescue mission follows hours of reporting by Iranian state media of a downed U.S. fighter jet. Iran's media published photos alongside claims from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it had shot down the aircraft. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately comment on the claims.
The fate of those inside the jet was not immediately clear. But a regional governor in Iran’s southwest issued a public plea for locals to find them and promised a reward, according to official and semi-official Iranian news organizations; a representative of merchants and businesses was reportedly offering the equivalent of $60,000.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the incident — the latest dramatic development in the war, now more than a month old.
Trump has declared success and pressured Iran to agree to a deal to end the war, while massing new troops in the Middle East and threatening intense escalation if Tehran doesn't reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz trade route.
It will also add to doubts over American-Israeli claims of dominance over Iranian skies. The joint campaign has focused intensely on destroying and degrading Iran's missile defenses, but Tehran has retained the capability to hit back across the region.
Iran has claimed previously to have struck American military planes, but the U.S. has not confirmed any such incidents during the war.
Debris from what the Revolutionary Guard claims to be a second U.S. fighter jet destroyed over central Iran, shared via Telegram on Friday.
U.S. Central Command said an F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing March 19, but stopped short of confirming this was the result of an Iranian attack.
Kuwait accidentally shot down three U.S. fighter jets near the start of the war.
The rescue operation Friday followed a morning of reporting by Iranian media and military observers on social media.
Nour News, an outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guard, said the jet “was destroyed in the skies over central Iran by a new advanced air defense system of the IRGC Aerospace Force.”
A channel affiliated with Iranian state television claimed that a U.S. pilot ejected from their aircraft over a rural region of southwestern Iran. An anchor urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward for anyone who did.
