One F-15E crew member was rescued and a search was underway for a second one after a fighter jet went down over Iran, a U.S. official said Friday.
Iran shot down the two-seater F-15E Strike Eagle, a U.S. official said, and the American military was scrambling to find the second aviator after a regional governor offered a bounty for its crew.
A U.S. aircraft that was mobilized to support the search and rescue mission was struck by Iranian fire after the F-15E jet was downed, a U.S. official told NBC News.
That aircraft, a single-pilot A-10 Thunderbolt, known as a Warthog, made it to Kuwaiti airspace, where the pilot ejected and the aircraft crashed, the official said. The pilot is safe and the A-10 is down in Kuwait, according to the official.
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Two U.S. military Blackhawk helicopters that were involved in search and rescue efforts were also struck by Iranian fire, but the service members were unharmed, according to a U.S. official.
Iran’s media published photos alongside claims from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it had shot down the F-15E. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately comment on the claims.
In a brief phone interview on Friday, President Donald Trump declined to discuss specifics of the rescue operation. When asked if Iran’s actions would negatively affect any negotiations to end the war, the president said, “No, not at all. No, it’s war.”
Trump has said that the U.S. has been negotiating with Iran to end the war. Iran says there is no direct negotiation.
Trump did not immediately mention the U.S. fighter jet on his Truth Social account, instead referencing Iran’s oil. “Keep the oil, anyone?” he posted Friday afternoon.
This is the first time it appears that a U.S. aircraft has gone down inside Iran as part of this latest conflict, dispelling the notion that the U.S. has complete control over the Iranian airspace. In recent days, the U.S. has ramped up the number of bombing runs over the country.
A regional governor in Iran’s southwest had issued a public plea Friday for locals to find those on board the F-15E 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 Iran’s 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.
