SOUTHWESTERN IRAN — Iran shot down two U.S. warplanes over southwestern Iran on April 3, 2026, leaving one airman missing behind enemy lines and triggering an American search-and-rescue operation. One crew member from the two downed aircraft was rescued shortly after the shootdowns, while U.S. forces launched operations to find and extract the second missing airman inside Iranian territory.

The missing airman, a U.S. Air Force officer whose F-15 fighter jet was among those brought down over western Iran, was rescued by U.S. forces early on Sunday morning local time, April 5, 2026, according to U.S. and White House officials. American aircraft conducting low-altitude search operations over Iranian territory took fire from the ground during the two-day effort to locate and retrieve the downed crew member.

The rescue operation proved dangerous. Three U.S. rescue aircraft were hit by Iranian fire during the mission, but all three returned safely to base. The damaged aircraft included one A-10 Warthog ground-attack plane and two helicopters. The pilot of the A-10, after sustaining damage from Iranian fire, managed to fly the aircraft into Kuwaiti airspace, where the pilot ejected and was rescued separately.

President Donald Trump said, "The U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine."

During the period before the rescue was completed, Iranian authorities asked local residents to turn in the missing airman and offered a reward for assistance in his capture. In a separate incident, a second U.S. combat plane carrying only one crew member was shot down near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, and that crew member was also rescued.

The two fighter jets represented the first U.S. military jets shot down in more than twenty years. The last such losses occurred in 2003 during the Iraq War.

The April 3 shootdowns took place approximately six weeks after the United States and Israel began conducting military operations against Iran. In an earlier incident in mid-March, a U.S. F-35 aircraft was struck by a missile, sustained damage, and made a hard landing upon returning to base, injuring its pilot.