One crew member of a U.S. F-15E fighter jet shot down over Iran has reportedly been rescued by American forces.
But the race against time to find the second airman continued amid growing fears he may have been captured.
Donald Trump was being briefed on the situation on Friday as the war he claimed he had already won spun out of control.
U.S. search and rescue aircraft and helicopters scoured the area around Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz in the hope of plucking the crew to safety.
CBS News, quoting two U.S. officials, said one of the two crew had been rescued.
But Tehran was also flooding troops into the area where it claims the wreckage of the plane was found, with a state broadcaster offering local citizens a reward if they hand the Americans over to the authorities alive.
There have been unconfirmed reports online that one airman was captured by the “Sons of Haidar al-Karrar” in Iran.
Both Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegeth have claimed the war of the skies over Iran was already over and insisted American planes could fly anywhere at will.
Now they face the possibility, if they are not found in time, that one U.S. service member could be paraded in front of the world’s media as a prisoner of war and held hostage in any future peace negotiations.
Pictures circulating online showed parts of what appear to be an F-15E and USAF aircraft that specialize in combat rescues flying low over south-west Iran.
Unnamed U.S. and Israeli officials told the New York Times that American officials scrambled to mount a search and rescue operation before Iran could get to any survivors.
The incident marks a dangerous new turn in the war, and comes despite Donald Trump repeatedly insisting the U.S. has already “decimated” Iran’s military capabilities.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was the first to claim that it had downed an “enemy” fighter jet over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
The downing, although not the location, was then confirmed by Axios’ Barak Ravid, who has close connections at the top of the Israeli government, and in Washington D.C., who credited “a source familiar with the incident.”
U.S officials have also confirmed the incident and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the president had been briefed.
Iranian state-run media aired footage on Friday of a female anchor calling on civilians to help capture pilots of an American F-15E Strike Eagle that the regime claims was allegedly shot down over Southern Iran.
A photo also emerged of an ejection seat, but the whereabouts or status of the crew currently remains unknown. The photographs have not been independently verified.
Fars News, a semi-official Iranian news agency with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that authorities offered a valuable reward for anyone who captures the U.S. fighter jet crew alive.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon, but they have yet to comment publicly on the report.
Central Command, which has operational control of the war, had denied a claim of a fighter being shot down almost 24 hours earlier, saying all U.S. planes were accounted for.
But that was hours before pictures of parts of an F-15E, and an apparent rescue mission, circulated.
The situation creates a military and diplomatic challenge for the U.S.
“I don’t see a way out right now for the United States that’s easy,” former Marine fighter pilot and one-time Democratic candidate Amy McGrath told CNN.
“People have to understand that Iran is the size, in landmass, of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined. So you’re talking a long way. If this happened somewhere in the middle of Iran, then it’s going to be very hard to sustain operations to try to find these aircrew.”
In a White House address this week, Trump said the war was “nearing completion” and that U.S. strikes had achieved most of their objectives.
But events on the ground suggest a far more volatile reality. In recent days, Trump has escalated further, vowing to bombard Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”
In an unhinged Truth Social post overnight, he also threatened to expand attacks on Iranian infrastructure—including bridges, power facilities, and other strategic targets—if Tehran does not yield.
“Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran,” Trump wrote overnight.
“Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants! New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and it has to be done FAST!”
The threat is contentious because targeting civilian infrastructure is a direct violation of international humanitarian law.
Under the Geneva Conventions and their additional Protocols, parties to a conflict must strictly distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects.
Legal experts and humanitarian groups warn that if Trump were to make good on his threat, it could unleash catastrophic harm on millions of innocent civilians in Iran, who rely on energy and desalination plants for water and electricity.
Iran, for its part, has retaliated with drone and missile strikes across the Gulf, targeting energy and water facilities in neighboring countries and warning of broader regional consequences.
Three sources familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments told CNN that about half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran’s arsenal.
Meanwhile, the White House on Friday released a summary of a budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year, seeking $1.5 trillion in defense spending from Congress.
The sum is by far the largest amount in modern history. However, Trump had previously signaled such a funding boost would be “a small price to pay to stay tippy top.”
