President Donald Trump reportedly said that the shooting down of a United States F-15E over Iran on Friday morning would not affect the ongoing negotiations, pointing out, “It’s war.” Meanwhile, Garrett Haake, a Senior White House Correspondent for NBC News, shared in a post on X that Trump “declined to discuss any details of the ongoing, intensive search” for the pilot.
“I just spoke briefly with President Trump,” Haake wrote. “He declined to discuss any details of the ongoing, intensive search for the missing pilot in Iran. I asked if today’s events would affect negotiations with Iran: ‘No, not at all. No, it’s war. We’re in war, Garrett.’”
A U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran on Friday, and one crew member was later rescued by American forces, U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News.
The aircraft carries a two-person crew, and search efforts are ongoing for the second crew member, identified as a weapons systems officer, according to officials.
U.S. officials said the jet was downed by Iranian forces, prompting a combat search-and-rescue operation. An A-10 Thunderbolt II participating in the mission took fire and was damaged. Its pilot ejected over the Persian Gulf and was later recovered.
Two helicopters were also involved in the operation and successfully retrieved the F-15E pilot who had ejected. Officials said the helicopter carrying the pilot came under small arms fire, resulting in injuries to some crew members, but was able to land safely. All personnel are receiving initial medical treatment and are expected to be transported for further care.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard said it shot down a U.S. fighter jet over central Iran on Friday, according to statements carried by Iranian state media.
Images and video circulating online and reported by state outlets appeared to show U.S. aircraft operating at low altitude over parts of central and southwestern Iran, including a C-130 Hercules and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, in what was described as a search-and-rescue effort for the downed crew, CBS News added.
The outlet previously reported that U.S. forces had lost at least 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran since the start of the conflict. The outlet also reported that three F-15 fighter jet aircraft were downed in a separate friendly fire incident earlier in the war, with no reported casualties.
The latest shoot-down comes after repeated statements from Trump, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and military officials asserting that U.S. forces had established air superiority during the conflict.
“Now in our fifth week of the campaign, it is my operational assessment that we are making undeniable progress. We don’t see their navy sailing. We don’t see their aircraft flying, and their air and missile defense systems have largely been destroyed,” CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said Thursday.
CNN’s Jim Sciutto revealed that several U.S. government sources confirmed Iranian state TV’s claim on Friday that a search and rescue operation is underway to locate the two pilots of a downed U.S. fighter jet over Southwestern Iran.
“It is our understanding that this is a U.S. fighter jet — not Israeli — and I don’t have to say how significant it is to have U.S. pilots down on enemy territory during wartime. This would certainly be the first time in this war, I think you’d have to go back to Yugoslavia in the 1990s for a previous incident of this,” Sciutto said.
“It’s the first time since the beginning of the war that a U.S. jet was downed by enemy fire. The sources said the aircraft had a two-person crew. On Friday, Iranian state media published pictures and videos that allegedly show parts of the downed plane and one of the ejection seats. The photos and videos suggest it is an F-15 fighter jet. Iranian state television channels called on civilians in the area where the jet was downed to search for the crew members, and said whoever finds them will be rewarded by the government,” Axios reported.
