Iranian news outlets shared photos of the wreckage and what appears to be an ejection seat with a parachute attached.
Published April 3, 2026
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Last updated: 1 hour ago
According to Iranian media, the Iranian military has launched a search operation for the crew of a US fighter jet shot down by air defense systems.
Fars News Agency said on Friday that the Iranian military was conducting a search to find the crew of the plane that crashed over southwestern Iran.
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The shootdown is the first reported since the war between the US, Israel and Iran began on February 28th.
Iranian state media aired photos of the plane’s wreckage and what appeared to be an ejection seat with a parachute attached.
Reuters quoted two US officials as saying a fighter jet was shot down over Iran and a search and rescue operation was underway for survivors. The Associated Press reported that one person has recovered.
After the airliner was shot down, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of winning the war.
“After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from ‘regime change’ to ‘hey! Can someone find us a pilot? Please?'” Ghalibaf wrote in a social media post.
Iranian reports said the plane may have been an F-15 jet with two pilots on board.
Late on Friday, a spokesman for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command said the plane had been completely destroyed by air defense forces, adding that search operations were still ongoing.
There was no immediate comment from the Department of Defense or U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on the incident.
In the past, when Iran has claimed to have shot down a US military plane, CENTCOM has quickly denied the reports.
Iranian officials called on civilians to help search for survivors.
According to Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA, Iran’s governor of Kogil-e-Boyer Ahmad said those who captured the crew “will receive special recognition.”
Several U.S. politicians confirmed reports about the crash and expressed support for the U.S. military.
“We pray for the safe return of the fighter jet crews and everyone working to rescue them under dangerous conditions,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on social media.
Since the start of the war on February 28, the United States has lost three F-15 jets in what it says were cross-fire incidents over Kuwait. Last month, a U.S. military refueling plane crashed over Iraq, killing all six people on board.
Iran claims to have shot down dozens of U.S. drones over the country.
President Trump and his aides have repeatedly claimed that the United States has destroyed all of Iran’s air defenses.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian authorities had offered a reward for the downed pilot and called on local residents to join the search.
“The Iranians have been claiming in recent days that since March 19, they have introduced a new system that they developed after the 12-day war,” Hashem said.
Miles Caggins, a retired U.S. Army colonel and non-resident senior fellow at the New Lines Institute, said the downing of the plane was a “momentous event” for the U.S. military.
“Iran’s primary air defenses were either destroyed by airstrikes or taken offline by sophisticated cyberattacks early in the war, but the manned man-portable air defense system still exists, and it’s likely the type of system carried by a single person, that could have shot down this F-15,” Caggins said.
