A US warplane has gone down deep inside Iran and the US is scrambling to find at least one missing crew member, the Washington Post reports, citing US officials. Sources tell Axios and the Wall Street Journal that US special forces located and rescued one crew member in southern Iran and are still searching for another. The sources say both crew members of the F-15 fighter jet ejected safely after it was hit by Iranian fire. It's the first known American aircraft loss inside the country since the conflict began more than a month ago. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump "has been briefed" but did not provide additional information. Sources tell the AP that Israel has been assisting the search-and-rescue operation.
Adm. William J. Fallon, a former commander of US Central Command, tells the New York Times that pilots are trained in SERE—Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape—principles in case they are shot down over enemy territory. He says they are trained to eject safely from the aircraft, then find a secure place to avoid capture and use radios in their kits to contact US forces. Iranian state media initially urged viewers to shoot Americans on sight, then told people to hand them over alive to "receive a precious prize."
Video verified by the Post shows a US C-130 tanker flying low over southwest Iran, about 90 miles from Iraq, refueling two HH-60G helicopters used for combat search and rescue—missions experts say are among the most dangerous the US military undertakes. Tasnim, a news agency linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the jet was brought down by Iranian air defenses. The outlet mentioned only one crew member and also asserted, without evidence, that an F-35 had been shot down elsewhere in the country. Tehran has a long record of making unverified claims about destroying US aircraft.
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