F-15 shot down: The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Sunday refuted Iran’s claims that the Iranian military shot down an F-15 fighter jet over near Hormuz Island using its indigenous Majid air defense system.
Did Iran shoot down US F-15 fighter jet?
According to IRGC-linked Iran’s semi-official Fars News agency, an ‘enemy’ F-15 jet was intercepted by the Iranian army’s air defense and struck by a ground-to-air missile.
“A short while ago, one F-15 enemy invading fighter jet in the skies over the country’s southern coasts and near Hormuz Island was targeted by the army’s air defense force’s ground-to-air systems after being intercepted and struck by a missile,” it said in a post on X.
The news agency also shared a video of the purported interception, showing what it said was Iran’s air defense system system successfully locking onto an ‘invading’ F-15 fighter jet.
What did US CENTCOM say?
However, the US CENTCOM issued a “fact check” on its official X handle, asserting that “rumors” claiming that Iran shot down a F-15 jet are “false”, and stated that US forces have “flown more than 8,000 combat flights during Operation Epic Fury. No U.S. fighter aircraft have been shot down by Iran”.
If Sunday’s strike is confirmed, it would mark at least six US aircraft, including four F-15s and an F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, struck or shot down by Iran since the conflict erupted on February 28.
Six US aircraft, including F-35 stealth fighter struck by Iran
If Sunday’s strike is confirmed, it would mark at least six US aircraft, including four F-15s and an F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, struck or shot down by Iran since the conflict erupted on February 28.
Earlier this week, Iran claimed to have struck the fifth-generation US F-35 Lightning II, one of the most advanced stealth fighters in the world. According to a CNN report, citing US officials, a US F-35 performed an emergency landing, but did not specify why it was forced to do so.
The officials said the pilot ejected safely and an investigation was underway, without divulging further details about the incident, the report said.
On March 1, three F-15E Strike Eagle jets were shot down over Kuwait in separate incidents, purportedly in “friendly fire” by Kuwaiti air defenses, CENTCOM said. Additionally, a US refueling aircraft, KC-135, crashed in Iraq after “unspecified incident” involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace”, according to the US military.
Further, Iran also claimed that it targeted an Israeli F-16 fighter jet with a surface-to-air missile. Israel has denied the claim.
