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An F-15E Strike Eagle from the United States Air Force was shot down this Friday over Iranian territory, and one crew member was rescued by U.S. forces, U.S. and Israeli sources who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to the AP agency and the CBS News broadcaster.
It is the first time the United States has lost a manned aircraft on Iranian soil since the conflict began on February 28, marking a significant escalation in the war that has now lasted five weeks.
The White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed in a statement that President Donald Trump was informed of the incident, without providing any additional details.
The F-15E operates with a crew of two, and the search and rescue operations for the second crew member were still ongoing at the time of publication.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard claimed to have shot down the plane over the central part of the country, although it was not immediately clear whether the aircraft was hit or if it crashed for other reasons.
A television channel affiliated with Iranian state television, located in the province of Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad—a rural and mountainous region covering more than 15,500 square kilometers—urged residents to turn in any "enemy pilot" to the police and offered a reward for doing so.
The same channel aired a text on screen asking viewers to "shoot if they see them," referring to American aircraft spotted in the area.
Images shared on social media showed at least one C-130 aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters from the United States flying at low altitude over southwestern and central Iran, described as a combat search and rescue operation. Israel is also involved in supporting the rescue operations, according to the same sources.
The demolition contradicts the statements made just last Thursday by Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Central Command, who stated that "in our fifth week of campaign, my operational assessment is that we are making undeniable progress. We do not see their fleet sailing. We do not see their planes flying, and their air defense and missile systems have largely been destroyed."
Since the beginning of the conflict, the United States had lost at least 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran, and three F-15 fighters were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait at the onset of the war without causing any casualties, according to CBS News.
In parallel to the aerial incident, Iran intensified its attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf this Friday: the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait was attacked, and Saudi Arabia destroyed several Iranian drones, while the United Arab Emirates closed a gas field following debris from a missile interception.
The price of Brent crude was around 109 dollars per barrel this Friday, more than 50% above the price recorded at the start of the war, driven by the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's oil and natural gas flows in peacetime.
The former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif published a proposal in Foreign Affairs this Friday to negotiate an end to the conflict: Iran "should offer to impose limits on its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the lifting of all sanctions, an agreement that Washington would not have accepted before but might accept now."
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