A United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet has been shot down over Iran, with American officials confirming the downing on Friday — a significant military development that directly contradicts repeated White House claims that Iran’s air defences had been completely destroyed.
Three US sources confirmed the incident to CNN, with the White House confirming that President Donald Trump had been briefed. One of the two crew members aboard the aircraft has been rescued by American forces and is receiving medical treatment, according to CBS News, citing two US officials. A search and rescue operation is ongoing for the second crew member.
What Iran Claims
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for shooting down the aircraft, releasing photos and video of what it described as the wreckage of the jet, including images of debris and an ejection seat with a parachute attached. Iranian state media initially misidentified the aircraft as an F-35 stealth fighter, but CNN analysis of the published images suggested the downed aircraft was more likely an F-15E Strike Eagle.
Iranian state broadcaster aired footage of a female anchor calling on civilians to help locate and capture the crew, with a state broadcaster offering a bounty for anyone who hands the pilots over to authorities alive. An on-screen crawl on one channel urged the public to “shoot them if you see them,” referring to videos of what appeared to be US aircraft in the area.
Search and rescue effort
US search-and-rescue aircraft, including a C-130 Hercules cargo plane and two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, were spotted flying low over Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran in a formation consistent with a combat search-and-rescue operation. A second US aircraft, an A-10 Warthog attack plane, also crashed near the Strait of Hormuz around the same time, though its lone pilot was safely rescued.
Israel suspended its planned airstrikes in Iran to avoid interfering with the US search and rescue effort for the downed crew, an Israeli official confirmed.
The aircraft and crew
The F-15E Strike Eagle is a two-seater aircraft, crewed by a pilot and a weapons-systems officer. If confirmed as the first manned American aircraft shot down by enemy fire during the current conflict, it would be a major escalation. Photographs consistent with the 48th Fighter Wing — the Liberty Wing, normally based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, were circulating on social media, though their authenticity has not been independently verified.
A direct contradiction of US claims
The incident directly challenges repeated assertions from US military commanders and the White House. CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said on Thursday, just one day before the shootdown, that Iran’s air and missile defence systems had “largely been destroyed” and that he did not see Iranian aircraft flying. President Trump had also declared in a prime-time address earlier this week that Iran had “no anti-aircraft equipment” and that its radar was “100% annihilated.”
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, mocked the US directly in a social media post. “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 anyone find our pilots? Please?” he wrote.
Analysis: How Iran may have done it
Retired US Army Colonel Myles Caggins, a non-resident senior fellow at the New Lines Institute, described the shootdown as a “significant event.” He noted that while Iran’s primary air defence systems were largely destroyed or taken offline in the early days of the conflict, man-portable air defence systems, which can be carried and fired by a single person, remained a viable threat. “Possibly that is the type of system that shot down this F-15,” Caggins said.
The wider context
The downing of the F-15E occurred on the same day as a series of fresh Iranian missile and drone attacks on Gulf states, with strikes reported in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, leaving at least 12 people wounded in the UAE. In Iran, US and Israeli strikes destroyed a major bridge near Tehran, killing at least eight people who had gathered below to celebrate National Day.
There have now been 13 Americans killed during the campaign, with three F-15Es previously shot down by friendly fire. The conflict, which began on February 28, 2026, with coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iranian military and government sites, has escalated significantly in the five weeks since.
The fate of the second crew member remains unknown as of the time of this report. The US military has not issued a formal statement. RNN.NG will update this story as developments emerge.