{"id":46200,"date":"2026-04-03T18:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=46200"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:04:25","slug":"iran-shoots-down-us-fighter-jet-one-pilot-rescued-media-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=46200","title":{"rendered":"Iran shoots down US fighter jet, one pilot rescued, media say"},"content":{"rendered":"
One US crew member has been rescued after Iran shot down a warplane on Friday, Israeli and US media \u200breported, as the war looked set to intensify \u200bwith US President Donald Trump threatening more attacks on \u2060civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Two US sources told Reuters the plane was \u200ba two-seat F-15E and a search was underway.<\/p>\n

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps \u200bsaid it was combing an area near where the plane came down in southwestern Iran.<\/p>\n

The regional governor promised a commendation for anyone \u200bwho captured or killed the pilot.<\/p>\n

“Military forces have launched a search operation to find the American fighter pilot who was hit earlier today,” Iran’s Fars news agency said.<\/p>\n

“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,” said an Iranian television reporter on the official local channel.<\/p>\n

Israeli media cited Israeli \u200bofficials as saying one pilot had been rescued. US broadcaster CBS \u200cNews \u2060reported the same, citing two US officials.<\/p>\n

Iranian news agencies said US helicopters were flying low on apparent search missions and carried videos of residents shooting at them.<\/p>\n

The Iranian military \u200bearlier reported \u200bthe downed \u2060aircraft was an F-35, a single-seater. The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately \u200brespond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Read More: Iran-US ‘breakthrough’ talks narrowly missed in Islamabad<\/p>\n

The loss underlined \u200bthe \u2060risk still faced by US and Israeli aircraft over Iran, despite assertions by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that \u2060their \u200bforces had total control of the \u200bskies.<\/p>\n

US Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for military operations in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on the first such report in the war engulfing the region.<\/p>\n

The war started more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n

US media outlet Axios also reported on the F-15 jet downed by Iran.<\/p>\n

Citing Iranian media and a source familiar with the incident, Axios said if confirmed, it would be the first time since the beginning of the war that a US jet was downed by “enemy” fire.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udea8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf7One of two crew members of a U.S. fighter jet that was shot down over Iran was located and rescued by U.S. special forces and the search for the second is ongoing, per Israeli official and a source with knowledge. My report on @axios https:\/\/t.co\/8CR6n5WqJA
\n\u2014 Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

The report of the downed jet came as fresh strikes hit Israel, Iran and Gulf countries. Large blasts rocked northern Tehran on Friday afternoon, an AFP journalist said. It was not immediately clear what was hit.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udea8 WATCH: American helicopters and a refueler flying extremely low near Izeh, Khuzestan Province \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf7<\/p>\n

Tensions remain high as U.S. aircraft operate close to sensitive Iranian airspace.<\/p>\n

\u26a0\ufe0f Situation developing \u2014 follow for real-time updates.#Iran #USMilitary #Breaking\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/Lv5F1LjnY0 pic.twitter.com\/rGagGSz3qg
\n\u2014 Observer 360 (@observer_360_x) April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

Two US officials told Reuters that a search-and-rescue operation is underway \u200bfor any survivors of the jet as the Pentagon and CENTCOM did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Trump briefed on the fighter jet <\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump “has been briefed” on a US fighter jet shot down over Iran, White House said Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump has been briefed,\u201d spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN.<\/p>\n

More photos from the downed US F-35 fighter jet in central Iran<\/p>\n

Follow: https:\/\/t.co\/mLGcUTS2ei pic.twitter.com\/Y7LKBoCnsR
\n\u2014 Press TV \ud83d\udd3b (@PressTV) April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

Earlier, Iranian state media released photos and videos allegedly showing debris from the crash site, including what appears to be parts of the aircraft and one of the ejected seats.<\/p>\n

Initial assessments based on the imagery suggest the aircraft may have been an F-15 fighter jet.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Anadolu.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One US crew member has been rescued after Iran shot down a warplane on Friday, Israeli and US media \u200breported, as the war looked set to intensify \u200bwith US President Donald Trump threatening more attacks on \u2060civilian infrastructure. Two US sources told Reuters the plane was \u200ba two-seat F-15E and a search was underway. Iran’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}