Overview
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed it shot down a U.S. fighter over central Iran, and U.S. officials told major outlets a U.S. F-15E crashed in the south with a rescue mission launched for a two-person crew.
- State media in Iran released video from an air-defense camera and photos of wreckage, and aviation analysts said the debris appears consistent with an F-15E, though they cautioned the images still need independent verification.
- U.S. Central Command publicly rejected Tehran’s account and called the shootdown claim propaganda and fake news.
- Iranian police said the crash site is in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province and urged residents to help search, and the Tasnim agency reported without confirmation that a U.S. pilot may have been captured.
- If confirmed, this would be the first U.S. aircraft destroyed inside hostile territory since the war began on February 28 and the fourth F-15 loss overall, after three were mistakenly shot down over Kuwait in early March.