Iran says it downed two U.S. jets as search for pilot continues

Saturday April 4, 2026

Media representatives gather in front of a heavily damaged building following a strike at the Azadi Sport Complex in Tehran [AFP]

Iranian forces say they have shot down two US military fighter jets, one over the country’s southwest and another in the area of the Strait of Hormuz, in a sharp escalation of the conflict.

In a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said air defences had “completely destroyed” an F-15 aircraft. Later the same day, the Iranian military said it had also hit an A-10 US plane, which crashed into the Gulf.

The New York Times had cited unidentified officials as saying that the A10’s pilot was safe after the crash.

At least one pilot from the F-15 crew remains unaccounted for. Several US media outlets reported that one crew member was recovered by American forces, while the other is still missing.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Friday that the incident would not alter the chances of negotiations with Tehran. “No, not at all. No, it’s war. We’re in war,” he said.

Iranian state media later published images of what it said was the wreckage of the F-15, along with what appeared to be an ejection seat and parachute.

Following the report, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf ridiculed Trump’s repeated declarations of victory in 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 anyone find our pilots? Please?’” Ghalibaf wrote in a social media post.

There was no immediate response from the Pentagon or from US Central Command (CENTCOM), the military command responsible for operations across the Middle East and much of Asia.

In previous Iranian claims of downing US jets, CENTCOM has moved quickly to reject the assertions.

Iranian ⁠officials urged civilians to ⁠watch for survivors. The governor of Iran’s Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province said ‌anyone who captured the crew “would be specially commended”, according to the ‌semi-official ‌Iranian news agency ISNA.

Several US politicians acknowledged the reports and voiced support for American forces.

“I’m praying for the safe return of the crew aboard the fighter jet and all of those working to rescue them in these dangerous conditions,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the social media platform X.

Since the war began on February 28, the US has lost three F-15 fighter jets in what it described as a friendly fire incident over Kuwait. A US military refuelling aircraft also went down over Iraq last month, killing all six crew members.

Iran has also claimed responsibility for shooting down dozens of US drones over its territory.

Trump and senior aides have repeatedly maintained that US forces wiped out all of Iran’s air defences at the outset of the war.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said Iranian officials offered a reward for the downed pilots and called on locals to help in the search.

“The Iranians over the past days, since the March 19, been saying that they’ve introduced a new system that they developed after the 12 day war,” Hashem said.

Myles Caggins, a retired US Army colonel and non-resident senior fellow at New Lines Institute, a foreign policy think tank, described the downing of the aircraft as a “significant event” for the US military.

“Iran’s primary air defence weapons were destroyed in the first days of the war through airstrikes or taken offline through sophisticated cyber attacks, but there are still manned portable air defence systems, and possibly that is the type of system that’s carried by one person that could have shot down this F-15,” Caggins said.