By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) – A U.S. fighter jet has been shot down over Iran and a search-and-rescue operation is underway for any survivors, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, in the first such known incident since the war began nearly five weeks ago.
The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command did not respond to requests for comment.
The prospect of U.S. pilots being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for the United States in a conflict that has struggled to win popular support among Americans, according to opinion polls.
It also presents a challenge to the U.S. military, which faces the twin goals of trying to save the lives of any surviving U.S. crew and safeguard whoever is involved in perilous rescue missions.
Iranian officials called on civilians to be on the lookout for survivors and have flooded social media with images that purport to show wreckage from the aircraft.
One of the U.S. officials said the aircraft was an F-15 fighter jet.
William Goodhind, a forensic imagery analyst with Contested Ground, said images of the plane’s tail fin seen in photos posted on social media are consistent with that of an F-15E Strike Eagle, which carries two crew.
The governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province said anyone who captured or killed the crew “would be specially commended,” Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
The incident follows threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to bomb the country back to the “Stone Age,” including to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure and desalination plants, as he presses Tehran to end the war on U.S. terms.
So far, 13 U.S. military service members have been killed in the conflict and more than 300 have been wounded, according to the U.S. Central Command. No U.S. troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.
While Trump has repeatedly sought to portray the Iranian military as defeated, Reuters has reported on U.S. intelligence showing Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability.
As of last week, the United States could only determine with certainty that it has destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal. The status of around another third was less clear but bombings likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters’ sources said.
The U.S. and Israeli war with Iran has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of people and hitting the global economy with soaring energy prices that are fuelling fears of inflation in countries around the world.
The war is unpopular with Americans, with two-thirds believing the U.S. should work to end its involvement in the conflict quickly, even if that means not achieving the goals set out by the Trump administration, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed this week.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Andrea Ricci)
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