An American pilot was rescued in a daring operation by US special forces Friday after Iran shot down a fighter jet — and placed a bounty on the crew.
A second fighter pilot is still missing.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Friday “newly developed and advanced air defenses” had downed the jet, which was “completely destroyed and crashed,” Tehran’s Press TV reported.
One of two crew members was located in Iranian territory and rescued by US forces hours later, according to reports.
It would be the first known loss of a jet inside the country since the start of the war, during which American and Israeli pilots have carried out more than 20,000 airstrikes, according to the countries’ military officials.
A US F-35A was damaged over Iran on March 19 during a combat mission, and 16 MQ-9 drones have been shot down. Three American F-15 fighter jets were also shot down over Kuwait in a friendly fire incident.
The anchor of a local affiliate of the state TV broadcaster urged Iranians to hunt down the “enemy” pilots, who it claimed had ejected from the aircraft over southwestern Iran
If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize,” the anchor said, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the US launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate the two crew, officials said.
Sources told several US media outlets hours later that US special forces located one of the crew members alive and rescued him.
It wasn’t immediately clear where in Iran the jet went down; however, a video geolocated by CNN showed multiple military aircraft flying low over Khuzestan Province in central Iran.
The Pentagon has yet to make a public statement on the reports.
Iran has previously made fraudulent claims of downing American aircraft throughout the month-long war, but Friday was the first time that state media urged the public to hunt a downed pilot.
As recently as Thursday, US Central Command issued a statement denying a claim of another reported downing made up by the Iranians.
“FACT: All U.S. fighter aircraft are accounted for. Iran’s IRGC has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times,” the combatant command posted to X — hours before the latest report.
CENTCOM did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
