A US fighter pilot ejected from an aircraft in southwest Iran, news agency AP reported, quoting Iranian media.
An anchor on a local Iranian channel read out an announcement saying, “If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots and hand them over alive to the police or military forces, you will receive a valuable reward.”
A separate on-screen crawl urged the public to “shoot them if you see them.”
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB also posted on X that crowds of civilians had driven out in private cars towards the crash site. “Many people in southwestern Iran have gone to the area around the crash site of the American fighter jet in private cars to capture the American pilot. The Iranian armed forces have called on the people NOT TO LET anyone mistreat the pilot,” it wrote. Follow Iran war live updates here
Iran Claims F-35 And F-15 Shot Down
Iranian media claimed that an F-35 stealth fighter had been brought down over central Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s Tasnim news agency published images of what it described as the wreckage of an American jet, adding that the chances of the pilot surviving were low.
IRIB also claimed separately that an F-15E Strike Eagle belonging to the 494th Fighter Squadron, based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, had been shot down. “Debris of the tail fin confirms the downing. The fate of the pilots is currently unclear,” it posted on X.
This is the third time Iran has claimed to have downed an F-35 since the conflict began on 28 February. Tehran made similar claims on 23 March and 2 April. Both earlier claims were dismissed by the US Central Command.
Responding to one such Iranian video, relating to a reported crash near Qeshm Island, CENTCOM’s official X account wrote, “All US fighter aircraft are accounted for. Iran’s IRGC has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times.”
As of the time of writing, there has been no official response from the US Central Command, the Pentagon or the White House regarding the latest Iranian claims.