One Soldier Rescued, One Missing: America's First Confirmed Dual Jet Loss Over Iran Shakes the Five-Week War
Iran shot down a US A-10 — the second confirmed loss to Iranian fire in five weeks of war. As one crew member was rescued from Iranian soil; a second remains missing.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - On Friday, an A-10 Warthog attack plane crashed near the Strait of Hormuz and fell into the waters of the Gulf, becoming the latest in a string of American aircraft losses that has deepened concern about the sustainability of Washington's air campaign against Iran.
The pilot status is still uncertain as search operations continue. The loss of the A-10 came at almost the same moment that a separate and graver crisis was unfolding over Iranian skies.
The first US jet shot down over Iran
An F-15 fighter jet — the first American warplane confirmed shot down by Iran since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28 — was downed over Iranian territory, setting off a search and rescue operation that succeeded in recovering one of its two crew members from Iranian soil. The fate of the second airman remained unclear. US and Israeli officials confirmed the loss, acknowledging that the incident created major military and diplomatic challenges for Washington.
The F-15, a two-seat aircraft, is smaller, faster, and more agile than heavier platforms — making it a more difficult target than the B-52 bombers that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said just days ago the United States was sending over Iran, claiming Tehran's air defenses had been so degraded that such lumbering, vulnerable aircraft could now operate freely over the country. Friday's shootdown told a different story. Videos posted to social media and verified by the New York Times showed helicopters and a C-130 aircraft, apparently American, flying low over southwestern Iran as part of the search and rescue effort.
A war exacting a mounting toll
Friday's devastation did not occur in a vacuum. It forms part of a widening pattern of American aircraft casualties since Operation Epic Fury began. Earlier in the conflict, three Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighters were shot down by Kuwaiti F/A-18 aircraft in a friendly fire incident in early March. On Thursday, all six crew members of a US military KC-135 refueling aircraft perished after the plane crashed in neighboring Iraq. US Central Command confirmed the loss was not caused by hostile or friendly fire, with investigators suspecting a midair collision with a second KC-135, which landed safely. The American death toll now stands at 13 service members, with hundreds more wounded.