Iran announced on Friday it has shot down a US fighter jet in the center of the Islamic Republic and a search and rescue effort is underway to locate two crew.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Friday that its air defenses shot down a US F-35 fighter jet over central Iran that came from a squadron based at RAF Lakenheath.
According to the IRGC, an “LN” tail code could be seen on the wreckage, which identified the jet as belonging to the 48th Fighter Wing in the 493rd Fighter Squadron at Lakenheath.
A post by Fars News Agency said the aircraft was “completely destroyed and crashed”, adding that no information was available about the pilot due to the scale of the damage.
Mehr News Agency reported that the pilot was unlikely to have ejected because of the “violent explosion” during the crash.
More photos from the downed US F-35 fighter jet in central Iran pic.twitter.com/eL06P7kKVC
— Mehr News Agency (@MehrnewsCom) April 3, 2026
Meanwhile, Iran’s Noor News channel broadcast footage of an American aircraft in the skies of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, searching for the pilot of the downed fighter jet and conducting a thermal camouflage drop operation.
Iranian news sources reported that the US had dispatched several Black Hawk helicopters and a Hercules 130 transport plane several hours earlier to rescue the pilot of the downed fighter jet. However, the operation failed, and one of the helicopters was attacked by air defenses near the border, forcing it to withdraw from the mission area, according to Iranian media.
🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡ BREAKING: American heliborne units entered southern Iran to search for the missing f-15 pilots.
— Osint World (@OsiOsint1) April 3, 2026
Unconfirmed reports that an American ‘Black Hawk’ helicopter was crashed in southern Iran. pic.twitter.com/WtRfRZ2E2S
Given the symbolic importance of this incident to the United States, the remaining aircraft attempted to complete the mission. However, it appears that Iranian air defenses fired on them at several points, and they attempted to evade damage by deploying flares as they fled.
In March, a US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at US air base in the Middle East after it was struck by Iranian fire.
Source: Iranian media and Agencies (translated and edited by Al-Manar)