U.S. fighter jet shot down over Iran, search underway for crew member, American officials say | 3 April 2026 | A U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iran and search-and-rescue efforts have so ​far recovered one of two crew members who ejected, a U.S. official told Reuters, in the first known incident of its kind in the ‌nearly five-week-old war. The prospect of a U.S. pilot being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for the U.S. in a conflict that, according to opinion polls, has struggled to win popular support among Americans. It also presents a challenge to the U.S. military, which faces the twin goals of trying to save the life of an ​American behind enemy lines while safeguarding anyone involved in perilous rescue missions.