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A United States fighter aircraft has been brought down over Iranian territory, marking the first confirmed loss of a US jet to Iranian air defences since the escalation of the ongoing conflict, according to American officials and Iranian state media reports.
Multiple US sources confirmed the incident to CNN, corroborating claims by Iranian outlets that the aircraft was intercepted and destroyed by the country’s air defence systems.
The aircraft, widely identified in reports and circulating images as an F-15E Strike Eagle, reportedly crashed in or around Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran, approximately 470 kilometres from the capital, Tehran.
Footage geolocated near a bridge over the Karoon River showed low-altitude military aircraft movements, believed to be part of search-and-rescue or support operations in the aftermath of the incident.
US forces are said to have initiated a combat search and rescue (CSAR) mission involving aircraft and helicopters to locate the crew, believed to consist of two pilots.
Iranian state media, including Fars News and Tasnim News Agency, reported that initial attempts to locate any ejected personnel had not yielded results.
One broadcast on Fars News indicated that a reward had been announced for information leading to the capture of any “enemy pilot or pilots,” raising concerns about the safety of the crew amid ongoing hostilities.
Iranian sources attributed the downing of the aircraft to “advanced and newly developed” air defence systems operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC.
Read Also: Iran Reveals UAE, Bahrain, Israel Were Targeted In Latest Attacks
Images and video footage circulated by Iranian outlets purported to show debris from the crash, including what appeared to be an ejection seat, although independent verification remains limited.
Earlier claims from Iranian sources suggested the aircraft was an F-35, but available evidence and U.S.-based reporting point to an F-15E.
As of Friday afternoon, neither the Pentagon, United States Central Command, CENTCOM, nor the White House had issued an official statement regarding the incident or the fate of the crew.
Observers note that such silence is typical during active combat search-and-rescue operations in contested areas.
Iran said its latest wave of attacks on Thursday had targeted the UAE, Bahrain and Israel after US-Israeli strikes hit the country’s two largest steel plants.
“In response to attacks on Iranian steel industries, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a new wave of attacks this morning,” the military’s central command, Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by state TV.
“American steel industries in Abu Dhabi, American aluminium industries in Bahrain, and the Rafael arms factories of the Zionist regime” were among a number of targets, it said.
Read Also: Spain Shuts Airspace To U.S. Iran War Flights
Quoting the Revolutionary Guards’ navy command, Tasnim news agency also said the data centres of two US firms — Oracle in Dubai and Amazon in Bahrain — were targeted.
Spain closed its airspace to all U.S. military aircraft involved in the war on Iran on Monday, extending a ban that already covered two jointly operated American bases on Spanish soil into a broader restriction that forces Washington to reroute its Middle East operations around a NATO ally for the first time since the conflict began.
Defence Minister Margarita Robles confirmed the closure to reporters in Madrid, making clear it had been communicated to American military and diplomatic counterparts from the outset rather than constituting a new escalation.
“This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran,” she said, describing the conflict as “profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust.”
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares confirmed the expanded ban, telling Catalan radio station Rac 1 that Madrid would block any U.S. flights linked to the conflict from entering Spanish airspace. “Spain should not do anything that could escalate” the conflict, Albares said. Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo provided the government’s legal framing. “This decision is part of the stance already taken by the Spanish government not to participate in or contribute to a war initiated unilaterally and in violation of international law,” he said in a separate interview. Emergency flights are exempt from the prohibition.
