Iran shot down an American F-15E fighter jet, and a search and rescue operation was launched to locate the two crew members, according to a US official. This would be the first known loss of a US combat aircraft in combat and would mark a significant escalation in the five-week war that has already sparked a global energy crisis. President Donald Trump was informed of the incident, the White House reported on Friday. US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Thursday called the claim by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that it had shot down an enemy aircraft on an island in the Strait of Hormoz as false. “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times,” CENTCOM said in a social media post. Iran and the US continue to exchange strikes. Iran attacked more targets in Arab states in the Persian Gulf on Friday, hours after Trump issued new threats against Iranian infrastructure to pressure Tehran into peace negotiations. The US president posted a video of a bridge collapsing on social media on Thursday, warning there would be “much more to come” if Iran did not reach a deal. Iran remained firm, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that attacks on civilian structures “will not force Iranians to surrender.” Additionally, the Iranian military warned that any attack on infrastructure would trigger “devastating” attacks on American, Israeli, and occupied territory targets, a spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters stated. There are few signs that the country will yield to US demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt attacks, and instead it is proposing its own conditions for a deal. Earlier, Trump had claimed that Iran had requested a ceasefire, but this was proven false after Iranian officials denied any negotiations with the US. US Central Command did not respond to requests for comment. The New York Times, which first reported the downing of the combat aircraft, stated that the fate of the crew is unknown. The US accuses Iran of falsifying information about the downing of aircraft. The semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim published a report on Friday claiming that “Iran shot down a high-tech American combat aircraft.” Iranian state media had previously claimed to have shot down American aircraft, which the US denied.
