Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Friday claimed that a US pilot may be in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after ejecting over western Iran from an F-35 fighter jet that it said was hit by the IRGC Aerospace Force. 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.
