https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-fighter-jet-shot-down-over-iran-search-underway-crew-us-official-says-2026-04-03/WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. fighter jet has been shot down over Iran and search-and-rescue efforts have so far recovered one of two crew members who ejected, a U.S. official told Reuters, in the first known incident of its kind in the nearly five-week-old war.The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command did not respond to requests for comment.The prospect of a U.S. pilot being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for the U.S. in a conflict that, according to opinion polls, has struggled to win popular support among Americans.It also presents a challenge to the U.S. military, which faces the twin goals of trying to save the life of an American behind enemy lines while safeguarding anyone involved in perilous rescue missions.The incident comes over a week after U.S. President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office that Iran's military had been defeated to the point that "we literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country. They can't do a thing about it."White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had been briefed, without confirming any details of the incident.Iranian officials called on civilians to be on the lookout for survivors and have flooded social media with images that purport to show wreckage from the aircraft.Two U.S. officials said the aircraft was an F-15E fighter jet, which has two seats: one for a pilot and the second for a weapons systems officer. It was unclear which of the two was recovered, and the U.S. official who confirmed the recovery did not offer any details on how it took place.U.S. air crews undergo training for what to do if they go down behind enemy lines, called Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training, or SERE, but few airmen are fluent in Persian and staying undetected while seeking rescue will be a challenge.
William Goodhind, a forensic imagery analyst with Contested Ground, said images of the plane's tail fin seen in photos posted on social media are consistent with that of an F-15E Strike Eagle, which carries two crew.The governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province said anyone who captured or killed the crew "would be specially commended," Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA reported.The incident follows threats this week by Trump to bomb the country back to the "Stone Age," including to attack Iran's energy infrastructure and desalination plants, as he presses Tehran to end the war on U.S. terms.So far, 13 U.S. military service members have been killed in the conflict and more than 300 have been wounded, according to the U.S. Central Command. No U.S. troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.While Trump has repeatedly sought to portray the Iranian military as in tatters, Reuters first reported on U.S. intelligence showing that Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability.As of last week, the U.S. could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about one-third of Iran's missile arsenal. The status of about another third was less clear but bombings likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters sources said.The U.S. and Israeli war with Iran has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of people and hitting the global economy with soaring energy prices that are fuelling fears of inflation in countries around the world.The war is unpopular with Americans, with two-thirds believing the U.S. should work to end its involvement in the conflict quickly, even if that means not achieving the goals set out by the Trump administration, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed this week.
>>1503160All Nazis are on Telegram
In a separate incident, today>A second U.S. Air Force combat aircraft crashed Friday in the Persian Gulf region, with the lone pilot safely rescued, two U.S. officials told the New York Times.>The officials said the A‑10 Warthog went down near the Strait of Hormuz around the same time an F‑15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran, an incident in which one crew member was rescued and search teams are still looking for a second airman.https://www.newsweek.com/a-10-warthog-second-us-combat-plane-crash-hormuz-11781253
The Americans claimed to have rescued one pilot a couple hours ago, unconfirmed. They didn’t confirm if there’s one or two crew either
>>1503164confirmed >>1503163
>>1503160What about the footage of the smoking helicopter?
So much for Hegseth bullshit about total sky command or however he put it
>>1503184Air white superiority was I believe the term
>>1503164From a second downed plane. First one's crew is either dead or captured.
>>1503160I was told this war was a complete success and Irans was no longer a threat.Guess the orange guy lied to us again.
embarrassing. Every day, Trump finds a way to embarrass the US. Every fucking day.
jfc. Imagine the shit show that's gonna happen when they parade an America POW around on Iranian national television. Republicans, just impeach the retard already ffs. Give us President Vance. At least he said he was anti interventionalist.
>>1503184He was just making believe, like Trump always does.
>>1503163I thought the A10 warthog was wildly obsolete. Why are they flying it in such a dangerous environment? I heard they've been trying to decommission the A10s for years.
>>1503190Oh ok, do you know if they got an F-35?
>>1503200They don't have a replacement at all, so they'll just keep flying them till they're all shot down or literally fall apart in the hangar.
>>1503176Post a link
>>1503184He's too busy firing all the competent generals and replacing them with incompetent white males.
>>1503233Dumb fuck we are winning. 1 jet in 5 weeks of 24/7 air operations? The left is so histrionic, how are we ever supposed to win a war when 1 downed jet makes them immediately want to surrender? This is why it's a good thing Secretary Hesgeth is axing these leftist cowards from the military. You're spineless little sissies, scared of dying, completely antithetical to the warrior ethos needed in a warfighting culture
>>1503266>1 jet in 5 weeks of 24/7 air operations?2 jets in five weeks, which doesn't seem so bad until you realize we lost around 9 jets total over 20 fucking years of Afghanistan.
>>1503266>weLOL
>>1503268I've noticed his a lot with miga cultists. He thinks he's on the team, but in reality he's a cheerleader on the sidelines.
>>1503267you're seriously comparing afghans anti air capabilities circa early 2000s with IRANS AA capabilities in 2026? Are you not white?
>>1503271>you're seriously comparing afghans anti air capabilities circa early 2000s with IRANS AA capabilities in 2026Yes, because the point is that Iran has much greater anti air capabilities than our similar wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the number is only going to grow over time. Which is pretty bad when every plane that gets shot down costs like 100 million.
>>1503272The president said we are literally 2-3 weeks from total victory dumbass. 2 planes and 2 months to defeat Iran is an overwhelming victory and leftists are totally insane for trying to act like it's a bad thing.
>>1503279>The president saidYeah and he also said we already won like two dozen times. His word on this is less than dirt. And what is "total victory" in this case, huh? Bombing them back "to the stone age"? Yeah good luck with that, we've gone through decades of bombs and tech already. We'll run out before we hit that point. Is it reopening the Strait? Because this current strategy isn't working and at the current rate we'll be locked out for the next decade. Is it just leaving? Well we could do that right fucking now with zero issue seeing as we started this in the first place, so what's the two weeks for?
>>1503279>The president saidlmao
