![\"Picture](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/1eeb895d55264deb2a139cf8d98e99d34ea93324\/0_91_625_500\/master\/625.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPicture of an ejector seat posted by Revolutionary Guards. Photograph: X @IRGCIntelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Downing of fighter plane \u2013 the first shot down over Iran since start of war \u2013 prompts frantic US rescue effort<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- \u00a0Middle East crisis \u2013 live updates<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Dan Sabbagh<\/a>\u00a0in Jerusalem and\u00a0Hugo Lowell<\/a>\u00a0in WashingtonFri 3 Apr 2026 10.28 EDTShare<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A US F-15E fighter has been shot down over Iran<\/a>, prompting a frantic US search and rescue effort for its two-strong crew, in the first such incident since the start of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iranian state media\u00a0released images<\/a>\u00a0of a tail fin and other debris early on Friday accompanied by an initial claim that a US F-35 had been hit by a new air defence system over central Iran and the pilot probably killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A social media account claiming to be linked to Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards posted a picture of an\u00a0ejector seat in a desert landscape<\/a>, which appeared to be consistent with the ACES II type used in F-15Es. Bronk said: \u201cIf genuine, it would suggest that at least one of the two aircrew did eject safely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Picture of an ejector seat posted by Revolutionary Guards. Photograph: X @IRGCIntelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The presenter on an Iranian TV channel urged residents to hand over any \u201cenemy pilot\u201d to police and promised a reward for anyone who did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency reported that the pilot of the jet \u2013 still incorrectly describing it as an F-35 \u2013 had been taken into custody, contradicting Tehran\u2019s initial claim that the pilot had probably died in the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overnight, the US Central Command, which is leading the attack on Iran, had denied Iranian claims that another F-35 jet had been downed over Qeshm Island in the strait of Hormuz. \u201cAll US fighter aircraft are accounted for,\u201d it said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up to now no US fighter jets had been lost over Iran during the five-week-long conflict, though three F-15Es were shot down by a Kuwaiti air defence system in a friendly fire incident on 1 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An F-35 fighter reportedly had to make an emergency landing at a US airbase in the Middle East after sustaining damage from the ground. A US E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft was destroyed at the Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia on 27 March in an Iranian strike.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Middle East crisis live: US launches rescue mission as official says Iran has shot down fighter jet<\/a>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aviation experts said the wreckage pictured was in fact from a F-15E, from the US air force\u2019s 494th squadron, based at RAF Lakenheath in the UK, though it could not at first be confirmed when and where the pictures were taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US officials familiar with the situation later confirmed off the record that an F-15E had been brought down and the Pentagon was scrambling to find the crew. There was no official comment from the US military<\/a> about the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subsequent footage filmed in Iran showed a US C-130 Hercules and HH-60 Pavehawk helicopters flying low and at one point refuelling together, amid fresh Iranian speculation that the plane crew may have ejected and survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Images](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b3a968d7b868ec4522eec1f7cf3b8635d03c06a8\/0_126_901_721\/master\/901.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none\")
<\/a>Images taken from Iran showing helicopters refuelling. Photograph: Iran state media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Justin Bronk, an aviation expert from the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the use of the specialist helicopters \u201csuggested a combat search and rescue mission is under way to locate and extract the two aircrew from the F-15E\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A social media account claiming to be linked to Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards posted a picture of an ejector seat in a desert landscape<\/a>, which appeared to be consistent with the ACES II type used in F-15Es. Bronk said: \u201cIf genuine, it would suggest that at least one of the two aircrew did eject safely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Picture of an ejector seat posted by Revolutionary Guards. Photograph: X @IRGCIntelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The presenter on an Iranian TV channel urged residents to hand over any \u201cenemy pilot\u201d to police and promised a reward for anyone who did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US F-15E jet confirmed shot down over Iran as Tehran releases wreckage images Back to News Picture of an ejector seat posted by Revolutionary Guards. Photograph: X @IRGCIntelli Downing of fighter plane \u2013 the first shot down over Iran since start of war \u2013 prompts frantic US rescue effort Dan Sabbagh\u00a0in Jerusalem and\u00a0Hugo Lowell\u00a0in WashingtonFri 3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17967"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17970,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17967\/revisions\/17970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}