United States rescues pilot of first plane shot down by Iran in war
US troops are intensifying the search for the second crew member of the F-15 fighter jet, whose whereabouts are unknown. Iranian authorities are offering a reward for his capture
The United States received its most compelling warning yet on Friday that the war against Iran, despite President Donald Trump’s promises, is far from over and that Tehran remains a dangerous adversary. The Islamic Republic shot down a U.S. F-15 fighter jet with two crew members on board over its territory on Friday. One of the crew members was rescued a few hours later by U.S. helicopters, according to media in Washington and Israel. The whereabouts of the second crew member are still unknown. This is the first time Iran has shot down a U.S. military aircraft over its airspace in nearly five weeks of the conflict. According to The New York Times, a second U.S. aircraft also crashed on Friday in the Persian Gulf region.
Neither the Pentagon nor Central Command, responsible for U.S. forces in the Middle East, has officially commented on either incident. In the second, involving an A-10 Warthog, there was only one crew member on board, the pilot, who was rescued.
The downing of the first plane, over Iranian territory, according to The Washington Post, occurred in the southwest of the country. Although its pilot has been rescued, the second crew member is still missing. And the prospect of an American airman alive and adrift in enemy territory underscores the risks of a war that most Americans oppose, according to polls.
Iranian authorities have appealed to the civilian population to report any clues as to the whereabouts of the crewman and have distributed images on social media, supposedly from the crash site and the wreckage of the aircraft.
According to CNN, the rescued pilot is alive, in U.S. hands, and receiving medical treatment. The network cites two sources familiar with the situation. Search operations are ongoing to locate the second crew member, according to Axios, which claims to have received this information from an Israeli official and another source with knowledge of the situation.
This is the fourth F-15 attacked since the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on February 28. The other three aircraft were shot down in a friendly fire incident in Kuwait during the early days of hostilities. In that case, all crew members were rescued. Iran has also destroyed other U.S. aircraft, including an E3 spy plane, considered an airborne command center for coordinating combat operations.
The downing of the F-15 comes just two days after Trump addressed the nation from the White House, urging patience and assuring the public that the war would last “two or three more weeks.” During that time, he maintained, the United States would intensify its bombing campaign against the country to “bring them back to the Stone ages, where they belong.”
In a message on social media Friday, before the downing of the plane was reported, Trump asked for “a little more time.” “We can easily open the Hormuz Strait, take the oil, and make a fortune. Would it be a ‘gusher’ for the world?” he wrote. Next Monday, April 6, marks the expiration of the ultimatum the Republican president gave to Iranian authorities to reach a peace agreement in the negotiations his administration claims to be holding with Tehran, negotiations the theocratic regime denies.
If no agreement is reached by then, the U.S. president says he will begin destroying Iran’s electrical and oil infrastructure and even water desalination plants that are essential for the civilian population.
Reward for US crewman
The governor of Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, where the U.S. plane crashed, has offered a reward for the capture of the missing crewman. The semi-official ISNA news agency, cited by international news agencies, reported that authorities in this mountainous province, near the Iraqi border and the Persian Gulf, announced “special recognition from the provincial government” for anyone who provides information about the serviceman’s whereabouts, without specifying the type of reward offered.
A state television channel has claimed that the crew parachuted to safety after activating the ejection system before the aircraft crashed. The channel’s presenter called on residents near the crash site to hand over the “enemy pilots” to law enforcement. The same station showed images from social media of a van transporting what appeared to be wreckage and an ejection seat from a U.S. aircraft.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces have searched the area where the aircraft crashed, according to Iranian news agencies, which showed images of U.S. helicopters over the area and a tanker plane refueling in flight in an apparent search and rescue mission, as well as videos of Iranians opening fire with their weapons.
The Iranian regime had previously claimed responsibility for shooting down other U.S. aircraft but until now had not called for the capture of surviving crew members. This is the first military action in five weeks of war in which the downing of a U.S. fighter jet by enemy fire has been confirmed.
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