April 3, 2026, 4:00 pm
Author – Nick Turse
Iran shot down a U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jet, U.S. officials said on Friday.
The officials told The Intercept that the military hastily mounted a search-and-rescue operation to reach the survivors before Iranian forces did.
The downing of the U.S. plane undermined an assertion of strength President Donald Trump made in a nationally televised speech earlier this week.
“They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated,” Trump said Wednesday. “We are unstoppable as a military force.”
A month ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iranian leaders were “looking up and seeing only U.S. and Israeli air power every minute of every day until we decide it’s over.” He continued: “Iran will be able to do nothing about it. B-2s, B-52s, B-1s, Predator drones, fighters controlling the skies, picking targets, death and destruction from the sky all day long.”
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon responded to requests for comment on how Iran could down an advanced U.S. aircraft when the country supposedly no longer possesses anti-aircraft weaponry.
The loss of the F-15 is the first known instance of an American combat aircraft shot down in Iran since the war began in late February. It comes after Trump repeatedly threatened critical infrastructure in Iran and the U.S. struck the B1 bridge outside of Tehran, which killed eight people and wounded 95, according to Iranian news media.
The U.S. officials told The Intercept that the aircraft had a two-person crew and that one crew member was rescued and is receiving medical treatment for injuries. The fate of the other remains unknown.
Last week, at least 15 U.S. troops were wounded in an Iranian attack on a Saudi air base that hosts American troops.
The U.S. military has previously provided misleading and stale casualty statistics, in what a defense official who spoke with The Intercept called a “casualty cover-up.”
At least 15 U.S. troops in the Middle East have died since the beginning of the Iran war, including six personnel who were killed in a drone strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, and a soldier who died due to an “enemy attack on March 1, 2026, at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.” More than 520 U.S. personnel have also been injured, according to an Intercept analysis.
On Friday, Iranian state media published pictures and videos that they claimed show parts of the downed plane and one of the ejection seats.
Update: April 3, 2026, 12:45 p.m. ET
The article has been updated with additional information about the surviving crew member who was located.
The post Iran Shoots Down F-15 Fighter Jet After Trump Bragged They Had No Capability appeared first on The Intercept.
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Author: Nick Turse
