US fighter pilot ejected from aircraft in southwest Iran: Report
A US fighter pilot ejected from an aircraft in southwest Iran, news agency AP reported, quoting Iranian media. This is the first known loss of a US jet inside the country since the war began on Febuary 28.
US media outlets reported that one of the two crew on the plane had already been rescued by US special forces, and a search was underway for the second crew member.
According to The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, the plane was an F-15E fighter jet. The warplane is crewed by a pilot and a weapons-systems officer in the back seat.
An anchor on a local Iranian channel read out an announcement saying, “Military forces have launched a search operation to find the American fighter pilot who was hit earlier today. Dear and honourable people of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, if you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police and military forces, you will receive a valuable reward and bonus.”
Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province is an intensely rural and mountainous region that spans over 15,500 square kilometres (5,900 square miles). Iranian authorities also urged the public to search in neighbouring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces.
A separate on-screen crawl urged the public to “shoot them if you see them.”
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB also posted on X that crowds of civilians had driven out in private cars towards the crash site. “Many people in southwestern Iran have gone to the area around the crash site of the American fighter jet in private cars to capture the American pilot. The Iranian armed forces have called on the people NOT TO LET anyone mistreat the pilot,” it wrote. Follow Iran war live updates here.
A US official told news agency Reuters that a search operation is underway for the crew of a US fighter jet that was shot down.
Iran Claims F-35 And F-15 Shot Down
Iranian media claimed that an F-35 stealth fighter had been brought down over central Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s Tasnim news agency published images of what it described as the wreckage of an American jet, adding that the chances of the pilot surviving were low.
IRIB also claimed separately that an F-15E Strike Eagle belonging to the 494th Fighter Squadron, based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, had been shot down. “Debris of the tail fin confirms the downing. The fate of the pilots is currently unclear,” it posted on X.
This is the third time Iran has claimed to have downed an F-35 since the conflict began on 28 February. Tehran made similar claims on 23 March and 2 April. Both earlier claims were dismissed by the US Central Command.
Responding to one such Iranian video, relating to a reported crash near Qeshm Island, CENTCOM’s official X account wrote, “All US fighter aircraft are accounted for. Iran’s IRGC has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times.”
As of the time of writing, there has been no official response from the US Central Command, the Pentagon or the White House regarding the latest Iranian claims.
The conflict, now in its 35th day, began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, targeting military sites and killing senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since then, the war has spread across the region, with Iran responding through missile and drone attacks and targeting US bases across the Middle East.
The human cost has mounted on all sides, with more than 1,900 people killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in the Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 US service members have been killed.
