After US fighter jet downed, Iran state TV urges public to capture pilots, American rescue efforts run into fire | World News

After Iran claimed to have downed a second US F-35 fighter jet, besides an F-15, there was widespread speculation about the fate of the pilots on Friday. US officials later said an American fighter jet, an F-15, was indeed shot down over Iran, and a search-and-rescue operation was underway for survivors, news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg both reported.The F-15E Strike Eagle in question here is a two-seat aircraft, crewed by a pilot and a weapons systems officer (WSO). The F-35, in all its variants, is a single-seat aircraft with just the pilot.A US military Black Hawk helicopter on the search mission was also shot down by the Iranian air defence system over neighbouring Iraqi territory, local outlets reported. It was not immediately confirmed by the US if the chopper and the F-35 had indeed been hit. What Iran has claimedIran's state-run and semi-official news outlets have cited officials to say the pilot of the F-35 downed in central Iran was unlikely to have survived, while some reports said he may have been captured already.As for the claim around the F-15E jet, a local channel of Iranian state television claimed on Friday that its “pilot(s)” ejected from their aircraft over southwestern Iran, news agency AP noted. The anchor read the following announcement: “If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize.”An on-screen crawl separately urged the public to “shoot them if you see them", referring to US aircraft conducting a search in the area as per social media footage going viral. The channel provided no other immediate details. Earlier in the day, news agency Tasnim said “the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's elite military wing) destroyed an advanced US fighter jet earlier today, the pilot ejected and landed inside the country”, on April 3. This claim was about an F-35. “The Americans, believing their pilot may be alive, are trying to get him out across Iran's border, but some sources say the pilot has likely been captured by Iranian forces,” reported the agency Mehr. Another report said the pilot could not eject from the plane and may have died.Follow: Live updates on the US-Israel war on Iran"A second US fifth-generation F-35 was struck and downed over central Iran by a new IRGC Aerospace Force air-defence system. Given the massive explosion on impact and during the crash, the pilot is unlikely to have ejected," a spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya, the IRGC’s central military headquarters, was quoted as saying by Press TV, a prime Iranian news outlet. It further stated that the impact and crash generated a "massive explosion" that made pilot survival “unlikely”. Similar claims were reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), stating that the advanced stealth aircraft was shot down by the IRGC's modern air defence system from the Lakenheath squadron."Due to the severe explosion of the fighter jet upon impact and fall, it is unlikely that the pilot ejected," the IRGC said as per the agency.A Turkish news outlet cited local agencies to say an F-15E jet was shot down, and that US Air Force choppers and planes were seen in Iranian airspace trying to find the remains and locate the pilot.News agency Mehr called on Iranian civilians to “help capture the pilot” of an American F-15E Strike Eagle “shot down this morning over Southern Iran”. A second timeEarlier, on March 19, Iran claimed to have become the first nation in the world to strike a US F-35 Lightning 2, one of the most valuable US aircraft and the backbone of the US's fifth-generation warfighting capabilities. Over 19 countries have already flown or are preparing to fly the Lightning 2, which is in great demand both within the USAF and among its allies.A CNN report, citing US defence officials, confirmed that an F-35 did perform an emergency landing after an Iranian surface-to-air missile (SAM) barrage, with the pilot safe and an investigation underway.As for a second F-35 beiing shot down, a statement by the IRGC on its official news website on Thursday said the jet was struck at 2:50 am local time. "The fate of the fighter jet is unclear and under investigation, and the likelihood of its crash is very high," it said.The IRGC claimed the interception follows the successful downing of more than 125 US-Israeli drones by Iran's defence systems.