US F-15 Fighter Jet Crashes in Iran, Trump Informed
US President Donald Trump has been informed about the crash of a United States F-15 fighter jet in Iran, which has triggered a large-scale search and rescue operation for the missing crew. This was stated by the White House on Friday (3 April) local time.
“The President has been given the information,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement, as reported by AFP news agency on Saturday (4 April 2026).
Earlier, a senior White House official said that the US national security team had gathered in the West Wing of the White House and provided the latest information to Trump regarding the downing of the F-15 fighter jet in Iran.
According to the official, Trump has been working in the Oval Office at the White House since Friday morning local time, receiving periodic updates on the ongoing search and rescue operation in Iran.
Previously, a spokesperson for Iran’s military central operational command stated that “an enemy American fighter jet in Iran’s central airspace has been struck and destroyed by the advanced air defence system of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Air Force”.
“The jet was completely destroyed, and further searches are still underway,” the spokesperson added, as reported by AFP news agency on Saturday (4 April 2026).
An Iranian television reporter on a local official channel said that anyone capturing the crew alive would “receive a valuable reward”.
Tehran claims to have shot down the US F-15 fighter jet, while US media reports that American special forces have rescued one of the two crew members, with the other still missing.
In an interview with NBC media, Trump stated that the F-15 incident would not affect negotiations with Iran. “No, not at all. No, this is war.”
Iran’s military also claimed to have shot down a US A-10 military aircraft in the Gulf, with US media stating that the pilot has been rescued.
The US military has announced the loss of several aircraft during operations in Iran, including a tanker aircraft that crashed in Iraq and three F-15 fighter jets accidentally shot down by allied Kuwait’s air defence system.
The war in Iran erupted more than a month ago with US-Israel attacks on Iran that killed the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This triggered Iran’s retaliation, spreading the conflict across the Middle East, shaking the global economy, and impacting millions of people worldwide.