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A US pilot may have been captured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after ejecting over western Iran from an F-35 fighter jet that it said was hit by the IRGC Aerospace Force, Iran’s Tasnim news agency claimed on Friday. The claim could not be independently verified.
Iranian government-linked sources also said the pilot had been captured. Earlier, Iran had announced a reward for whoever captures the pilot alive.
The development follows earlier claims by Iran that a second US fifth-generation F-35 jet was struck and brought down over central Iran by an advanced air defence system operated by the IRGC.
State broadcaster Press TV, citing a spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al Anbiya Headquarters, reported that the aircraft was downed by a newly deployed air defence system of the IRGC Aerospace Force.
‘Americans tried to extract F-35 pilot’
The report further added that there were indications that the US attempted to extract the ejected pilot from Iran’s border, believing them to be alive, but Tehran’s forces ended up capturing.
Armed tribesmen and villagers in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad were also searching for US forces after reports of a rescue attempt, patrolling mountains and rural areas. IRGC-linked handles on X posted videos showing an American chopper and a C-130 Hercules flying low in Iranian territory duringa rescue operation.
