By Agency Report
Lagos, April 3, ’26 (TNZ) Iran shot down two U.S. military planes in separate attacks on Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing, in a dramatic escalation since the war began nearly five weeks ago.
It was the first time U.S. aircraft had been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.”
One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released public information about the downed planes.
In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to discuss the search-and-rescue efforts but said what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.
“No, not at all. No, it’s war,” he said.
Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defence forces.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said earlier that it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down or whether Iran was involved.
Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it went down was immediately known.
Those incidents came as Iran fired on targets across the Middle East on Friday, keeping the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbours despite U.S. and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed.
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Second service member’s status unknown
But the Pentagon notified the House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member from the fighter jet was not known.
In an email from the Pentagon, obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, the military said it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without providing more details.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.
Downed jet could mark a new level of pressure on the US
Before word of the rescue, social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region.
A television channel affiliated with Iranian state television said earlier that at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.
An anchor urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the Police and promised a reward.
It was the first time the U.S. has lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the conflict, and could mark a new level of pressure on the U.S. military.
Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true.
Friday was the first time that Iran went on television, urging the public to look for a downed pilot. (TNZ/AP)
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