ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities on Friday claimed they shot down a US fighter jet, with videos circulating on Iranian Telegram channels showing an aircraft flying at low altitude, reportedly in southern Iran to conduct search-and-rescue operations.

In a post on X, Barak Ravid, a political reporter for the American website Axios, cited a source “familiar with the incident” saying a US fighter jet had been shot down over Iran earlier in the day.

US officials, however, including the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), have not publicly confirmed or denied this specific incident.

Hours earlier, CENTCOM had rejected a similar claim made Thursday by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which alleged that a US fighter jet had been shot down over the Persian Gulf.

“All U.S. fighter aircraft are accounted for,” CENTCOM said in a post on X, adding that “Iran’s IRGC has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times.”

Meanwhile, IRGC-affiliated media outlets on Friday published photos and videos reportedly showing what they said was an ejection seat from the purported aircraft, along with footage of American planes conducting search operations for crew members.

Several videos circulated by Iranian outlets also showed local tribal fighters in southern Iran firing at low-flying attack helicopters with AK-47s.


Iranian state TV called on tribal residents in the Yasuj area, in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, to locate the pilot.

Initial messaging reportedly urged residents to shoot the pilot if found alive, though later broadcasts called on residents to capture any surviving pilots and hand them over to security forces in exchange for a “special reward,” accompanied by military marches from the 1980s Iran-Iraq War.

Meanwhile, US and Israeli aircraft carried out numerous sorties on Friday, striking dozens of targets across Iran, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and areas near the Persian Gulf.

Iranian state media also reported that Shahid Beheshti University, a prominent university in Tehran, was among the targets on Friday.

The development comes as the Iran-Israel-US war entered day 34 on Friday, after Washington in Tel Aviv on February 28 launched a coordinated military campaign against Iran, with CENTCOM reporting on Thursday that its forces have struck more than 12,300 targets across the country since the start of the joint operation. The Command further added that over 155 Iranian vessels have been damaged or destroyed.

In response, Tehran has carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets in the region - particularly in Gulf Arab states - as well as launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.