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One crew member has been rescued after a US fighter jet was shot down over Iran, according to American media reports.
A search-and-rescue operation was launched on Friday after the jet was downed in the first such known incident since the war started nearly five weeks ago.
US officials told CBS News that one crew member from an F-15E fighter jet had been rescued by American forces. F-15s typically fly with two pilots.
An unverified image circulating online purported to show an ejected pilot’s seat found in Iran.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the incident. US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Iranian Fars news agency also posted images that apparently showed parts of a warplane that had been shot down.
Iran has repeatedly claimed to have shot down US jets since the war started on February 28. Centcom has refuted each of those claims.
US President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have repeatedly boasted that Iran's air defences have been destroyed and that US warplanes can roam free above the country.
“We knocked out their navy, their air force, their anti-aircraft equipment, their radar, and their leaders,” Mr Trump said on March 17. “It's been amazing, militarily”.
A few days earlier, Mr Hegseth said US warplanes could fly at leisure across Iran.
“Today, as we speak, we fly over the top of Iran and Tehran, fighters and bombers all day, picking targets as they choose, as our intelligence gets better and better and more refined,” he said on March 13. “Iran has no air defences”.
Alex Plitsas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the latest claims of a shooting down represent a major development.
“It would be significant if they [the Iranians] capture the pilots, because they would have bargaining chips they don't have right now with American lives,” he said. “So the race is on to find them right now.”
US military pilots go through survival school and are trained to evade capture, and on what to do in the event they are captured by enemy forces.
Fars said a reward was being offered for the pilots.
The US military lost three F-15s early in the war, when they were accidentally shot down by Kuwait.
