An F-15 fighter jet flies on March 20, 2026 in Rehovot, Israel. (Erik Marmor / Getty Images)
By Jack Davis April 3, 2026 at 10:01am
An Air Force F-15 jet was shot down over Iran on Friday, according to multiple reports, with at least one crew member reportedly rescued.
Citing a CBS News report, the Times of Israel said one member of the two-person crew had been rescued. The also report cited American and Israeli officials as its source.
Search efforts are ongoing for the second F-15 crew member. The Israeli official said Israel has held off attacks in the region where the search and rescue efforts are under way.
Although there was no official comment about the incident, Reuters reported that a rescue operation was under way, citing a U.S. official it did not name, according to the Times of Israel.
Iranian media has posted what appears to be debris from a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle, reportedly downed earlier today.
Seen here, the remains of a vertical stabilizer. pic.twitter.com/FGD8jrmM4p
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 3, 2026
Israel’s Army Radio also said an American jet was downed.
The Times of Israel reported that Iran’s Fars news agency said its soldiers are also reaching for the crew.
“Military forces have launched a search operation to find the American fighter pilot who was hit earlier today,” Fars said.
U.S. Air Force C-130 is flying very low over Iran as part of a recovery mission for downed F-15 pilots.
The low-altitude flight over Iranian airspace has fueled claims that the F-15 may have been shot down, with U.S. forces now focused on locating and recovering the pilots. pic.twitter.com/ytQcfJY1N9
— Defence Index (@Defence_Index) April 3, 2026
The report said local residents have been promised a bounty if they capture the U.S. service members, while a local Iranian TV station said anyone who sees Americans should “shoot them as soon as you see them.”
As noted by Axios, this would be the first time that American warplanes were downed by enemy fire.
According to a report from The War Zone, Iran initially claimed that it shot down an F-35 fighter, saying that the pilot was likely killed.
However, photos published by Iranian media show what is believed to be wreckage of an F-15.
The Washington Post reported that the semi-official Tasnim news agency said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps downed the plane.
The Tasnim report said one crew member “ejected and landed inside the country.”
The IRGC’s claim was that the F-35 it claims to have shot down was “destroyed in the skies of central Iran by the new advanced defense system of the IRGC Aerospace Force.”
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that verified video of aircraft flying low of Iran makes it clear a searc is under way.
“The fact that they are flying so low and slow indicates willingness to take a lot of risk,” Cancian said.
Last month, three American jets were shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses by mistake.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues
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