Iran says it downed 2 US warplanes
Iranian forces have said they struck down two fighter jets belonging to the United States military, one over the southwest part of the country and another around the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reported.
A spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Friday that air defences completely destroyed one F-15 jet. Later in the day, the Iranian military said it targeted an A-10 US aircraft that crashed into the Gulf.
The fate of at least one pilot from the downed F-15 crew is unknown. Several US media outlets reported that one crew member of the jet was located and rescued by US forces, but the other remains missing.
State media outlets in Iran showed photos of the wreckage of the F-15 jet and what appears to be an ejection seat with an attached parachute.
Iranian officials called on civilians to be on the lookout for survivors. The governor of Iran’s Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province said whoever captured the crew “would be specially commended”, according to the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA.
Since the start of the war on February 28, the US has lost three F-15 fighter jets in what it said was a friendly fire incident over Kuwait. A US military refuelling aircraft also fell over Iraq last month, killing all six crew members.
In addition, Iran has claimed to have struck down dozens of US drones over the country.
Trump and his top aides have repeatedly asserted that the US destroyed all of Iran’s air defences since the war began.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said Iranian officials offered a reward for the downed pilots and called for locals to join in the search.
The White House confirmed that US President Donald Trump had been briefed.