The wanted crew, a reward promised by the regime… What we know about the American fighter shot down in Iran

The aircraft, probably an F-15, was shot down this Friday in the southwest of the country. Its occupant(s) have not yet been located.

Iran announced this Friday that it had shot down an American fighter jet over the country. The regime is actively searching for the pilot(s) who were on board, promising a “generous reward” to those who help locate them.

At the same time, the American army launched an operation to extract them from Iranian territory, various American media report.

If the information has not yet been confirmed by Washington, this could be the first time that an American plane has been shot down by Iranian forces.

What happened?

According to a statement from the Iranian police, relayed by state television, an American plane was targeted while flying over central Iran, before being shot down in the province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad (southwest).

The semi-official state agency Tasnim initially indicated that it was an F-35, one of the key planes of the American army, described by Donald Trump as an “almost invisible fighter”.

The photos and videos broadcast by Iranian media rather seem to suggest that it is in reality an F-15, indicates the American news site Axios.

What do we know from the research?

The Iranian army has launched a search to find the crew of the American fighter plane, hit by an air defense system, reports the Iranian Fars news agency.

State television broadcast images of what it said was the debris of the plane. “If you capture the enemy pilot(s) alive and hand them over to the police and armed forces, you will receive a generous reward,” police said, according to the message read on air.

At the same time, the American army launched an operation to rescue and extract pilots from Iranian territory, report in particular the Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

Contacted by AFP, the United States military command for the Middle East (Centcom) did not confirm this information at this stage.

The Revolutionary Guards said in March that an American F-35 plane had been “hit and seriously damaged in the skies over central Iran”, but this is the first time since the start of the conflict that the media have reported a fighter shot down.