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U.S. Sources: American Fighter Jet Shot Down Over Iran; Search Underway for U.S. Jet Crew Shot Down in Iran. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And that is a U.S. jet downed over Iranian territory, and now a U.S. search- and-rescue operation to rescue those pilots, and we can only hope safely.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And we know for sure, is it true that this F-15, presumably that was shot down, was a U.S. F-15? Because I know the Israeli Air Force has F-15s as well.

SCIUTTO: That's right, it is our understanding that this is a U.S. fighter jet, not an Israeli F-15. And, Wolf, I don't have to say to you, you know from covering this region for many years how significant it would be to have -- or it is, to have U.S. pilots down on enemy territory in wartime. This would certainly be the first time in this war, and I think you'd have to go back to, well, the Yugoslav war in the 1990s to the Scott O'Grady case as a previous instance of this. It is dangerous.

Those pilots, they are trained to do a number of things in the event that they go down. The first is to evade, and if they're captured, to escape, but also, they have means of signaling U.S. forces so that they can zero in on their location and take them to safety. We know that Iranian authorities appear to be looking for the pilots as well, because on Iranian state TV we heard the state TV anchor exhorting residents in the area to, if they find pilots, to turn them in.

Again, we don't know the status of those pilots at this point, only that a U.S. jet has been shot down and that a search and rescue operation is ongoing.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And what would that look like, Jim? Because I imagine a U.S. search and rescue operation for pilots in Iran would also be inherently dangerous.

SCIUTTO: Yes. No question. We should note that those SAR teams were in place and ready to go. That is part of this operation, has been from the beginning, that when you have U.S. aircraft flying over enemy territory in war, you have search and rescue teams and resources positioned on really high alert, right, to act very quickly in the event that a pilot goes down.

And you would see a collection of aircraft involved, helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft, to identify and then go in to get them out. And that's the kind of videos that we've been seeing shared on social media from that southwestern part of Iran, including one I referenced earlier, which appeared to show a fixed-wing aircraft refueling two other helicopters, which, again, would be consistent with a search and rescue operation. It's a dangerous operation, but it's one that they're highly trained for.

But we should note this as well, Pamela, that when you put those search and rescue aircraft into hostile territory, they face risk as well. It's risk for those crews and those pilots. And we should also note that helicopters, of course, fly much lower and more slowly than an F-15 jet would, the F-15 being the aircraft we believe was shut down.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. Jim, stand by. We're going to get back to you. I want to bring in our national security reporter, Haley Britzky, who's been doing a lot of reporting on this as well. What else, Haley, are you learning?

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf. So, like Jim said, we can confirm that a fighter aircraft has been shot down over Iran. Search and rescue efforts underway. We don't know the status of these pilots yet. But it's worth mentioning here that for several days, if not a couple of weeks now, Trump administration officials have maintained essentially that the war is close to being won, if not won, that the U.S. largely has air superiority over Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier this month that Iran has no air defenses left.

So, this certainly raises questions about the reality on the ground in Iran and the risk that U.S. forces are still facing in the region as this conflict is ongoing. And as Jim mentioned, I mean, the search and rescue aircraft that we've seen in videos that are kind of circling over to find these two crew members, they face a risk as well flying over there. It's a risk for those crews and those personnel.

So, certainly, we will be staying on top of this to try to get the status of these two crew members. It does indicate that, you know, this is believed to be an F-15 fighter jet, as we've been talking about here. So, certainly more information to come as these search and rescue efforts continue, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Haley, stand by. We're going to get back to you. I know you're doing a lot of reporting. Pamela.

BROWN: Yes, I want to go now to Colonel Leighton to just put this into perspective more about the risks, not only for these pilots, these American pilots. We believe there are two because there are two that typically man an F-15, but also for the search and rescuers, because if Iran could bring down a U.S. fighter jet, it presumably could bring down these search and rescuers on helicopters.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND U.S. AIR FORCE: Yes, it certainly can, Pamela. And one of the things these helicopters that are going in are HH-60Gs. They're Pave Hawk helicopters. They do have defensive capabilities. They have flares on board so that they could be used to confuse enemy radars and do things like that.

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But they're still at risk, and sometimes it just takes a visual when they -- you know, the enemy sees an aircraft like a Pave Hawk, where they could at least attempt to fire a shoulder-fired missile, for example, at them.

So, there are significant risks to the crews in the helicopters. They are -- as Jim mentioned, Haley has also mentioned, they are highly trained and they're very capable of doing these kinds of missions, but they are in hostile territory. And these are the kinds of missions that have been practiced quite a bit but there is nothing like doing it for real and in this case it's definitely for real.

BLITZER: And when you say that they're at risk, these helicopters, more than a plane because they fly so much slower than a fighter jet, it's flying very, very fast, a helicopter not so much.

LEIGHTON: That's right and they make noise. And you know, you can definitely tell when a Pave Hawk is in your vicinity. It's a very loud aircraft. It does have capabilities. It does have defensive capabilities where they can shoot at any threats that they see. But it is something that definitely puts the crew at risk and it is also a very dangerous mission as they go into the territory which is denied territory to grab the two-man crew from the F-15.

BLITZER: Do we have any idea when the Pentagon or the Defense Department or the Central Command, the Air Force, whatever, assuming there are two pilots who are now, have ejected from an F-15 and are on the ground someplace in Iran, when the families of these two pilots would actually be notified?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR AND FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY (BIDEN ADMIN.): Well, right now, it's a search and rescue mission. When that potentially changes to recovery, that would mean that families would usually get notified and there would be that 24-hour built-in period to allow for those families to get notified and it's usually in person and then for other members of those families to get notified as well.

And that was something that unfortunately we had had to have dealt with many times when I was at the Pentagon. It does take time. And I think what's important here right now is that this is search and rescue. So, the presumption is that these pilots are still alive. And so, that's why these missions are underway.

Usually, it can take a few days. If the U.S. military believes that these pilots are still alive and they've been able to evade Iranian capture, this could take a while. It's not going to be maybe hours. It could take days. And so, before we even learn the names, I don't think the U.S. military is going to publish any information about who was on board this aircraft until they get more information and feel that either they have deceased and then those family notifications would happen. But I think just to also what Haley was saying, I think this shows that yes, the U.S. military has degraded Iran's military apparatus extensively, but they still retain capabilities. And I believe this is the first time that enemy fire has shot down one of our own aircraft. So, there will have to be an investigation into how this happened, but also, I think it's important to remember that Iran is still sophisticated and does have those capabilities, ballistic missiles included, and of course the drone capabilities as well.

BLITZER: I can only imagine how nervous family members of F-15 fighter pilots are right now. They don't know if their loved one was on one of these planes, but they're nervous because they haven't heard any official word yet.

SINGH: And this is the worst time, I think, for family members waiting, for your teammates waiting, both at the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command, waiting to know and not having any information. It's the hardest.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Agonizing.

LEIGHTON: One of the greatest duties that a commander has in the Air Force and certainly throughout the military is the notification process for family members. And, you know, hopefully, this will be a good news story, just like, you know, some of the stories out of the Bosnia war where, in fact, a former chief of staff of the Air Force, General Goldfein, was somebody that was shot down over Serbia back during that period in the late '90s.

So, these are the kinds of missions that definitely tax a unit because they, you know, put everything out there to conduct the offensive operations and when the search and rescue crews have to be called in, the PJs, as they're called, when they're called in to do these kinds of things they are called in not only because of their training but also, because of their ability to help with the evasion process.

So, the pilots get extensive training, the crew members, I should say, on these airplanes get extensive training in search, not only search and rescue, but escape and evasion tactics as well. And that combined with the search and rescue effort should be able to help them evade.

But we have to remember, as the reporting indicated, the Iranian population has been exhorted to try to find these people as well.

BLITZER: Right.

LEIGHTON: And so, that brings up memories of what happened in Vietnam and other places like that.

BROWN: Yes. You're seeing the -- a Fars news anchor, which is an Iranian news agency, saying a reward was being offered for anyone capturing a quote -- they quote, "enemy pilot or pilots."

LEIGHTON: Yes. [10:40:00]

BROWN: So, a very dangerous situation. All of this is a reminder of the risks to our U.S. service members who were involved in this war.

BLITZER: And I remember when I was a Pentagon correspondent during the first Gulf War and I was on television all the time. People were watching CNN. I would get calls from family members, from strangers asking me, do I know who was shot down or whatever, as if I didn't, obviously. But they would call me and you'd start hearing people crying and everything. I wonder if it's my son, my husband, my father or whatever.

BROWN: Right. Of course. It's agonizing.

BLITZER: It was just a very, very painful moment. And it was painful for me just to get these calls.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely. And you can imagine what it's like for -- you know, for all the members of a squadron, you know, when their squadron mates are impacted by this.

BROWN: Right. And also, we're wondering what the White House is thinking right now. So, let's go over to Alayna Treene to see if there's any news out of there. Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Look, I'm -- you know, we have reported, as you've been covering here, that a U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iran and a search and rescue mission is underway. I want to be very clear, though, that there are very few details right now coming out, really, anywhere of the White House or the U.S. military. They have not weighed in publicly responding to this.

Of course, it was Iranian state media that shared this information first. They've made claims, you know, we've heard from the CENTCOM earlier today, from the military that essentially, you know, you don't -- you can't trust everything that Iran is saying. They've claimed to shoot down fighter jets before. But we do now have three U.S. officials confirming that this U.S. fighter jet was, in fact, shot down over Iran and search and rescue is underway.

I want to be clear about the importance of this, because this is the first time this incident marks the first time that a U.S. aircraft has been shot down over Iran since this incident began. And, of course, it comes at a very, you know, important time for this administration, which is trying to find a near end to this war.

It comes, as we've heard the president, I know Haley talked about this earlier, but as the president continues to claim that the military in Iran has been basically obliterated. So, I think the ability that they had to do this is something that everyone is trying to figure out this morning and have, you know, why we're waiting to hear from the White House and the Pentagon. I will note on my point about this being the first fighter jet shot down over Iran. We should note that we did see three F-15s mistakenly shot down earlier in this conflict, but those were in friendly fire in a friendly fire incident in by the Kuwaiti air defenses. So, that is a bit of a different thing here. Look, there are so many details we are still waiting to hear. We have, of course, seen some of these videos from Iran around this. But as of now, U.S. officials only going so far as to say that the fighter jet was shot down and rescue mission is underway.

BLITZER: All right. Alayna, stand by. Yes, Pam, you --

BROWN: And it's also notable, I believe it was a couple of weeks ago that Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the air defenses in Iran had been flattened. I believe that was a couple of weeks ago. Clearly not the case.

BLITZER: Clearly not the case, indeed. Jim Sciutto, I know you've done a lot of reporting over the years on preparations for these fighter pilots and for search and rescue crews that the U.S. would send in, presumably by helicopter, to try to save the lives of these American pilots who may have ejected from a plane like this. Tell us a little bit about that.

SCIUTTO: Well, Wolf, let's begin by saying this is an extremely serious situation, arguably one of the most serious situations in wartime, and that is U.S. forces down behind enemy lines. With that in mind, the U.S. places resources and trains its forces, both the search and rescue team, but also, the pilots, for exactly this kind of situation.

I explained earlier how they would have search and rescue teams positioned around Iran and ready to go, in effect, to respond to situations exactly like this. And that's what we've been seeing over Iran in some of these videos posted online of those helicopters, the refueling of those helicopters as they go about their work of locating and attempting to rescue this crew.

But I'll say that the crew members, they are also trained for this. There's something of an acronym, survive, evade, resist, escape. Your first job, survive, right? You pull that ejection seat, you get to the ground safely, but also, then to evade any Iranian authorities or forces that might then attempt to capture you, resist if they do locate you, and if you are captured, at least make an attempt to escape. So, they are trained.

Of course, each of those steps, if the pilots were to encounter them, are dangerous in their own right. But, again, it is something that those forces train for. But we should not underestimate the seriousness of this situation right now and the intense pressure those pilots would be under and stress, but also, the crews seeking to rescue them.

And, and we said this earlier, but I think, again, worth highlighting, that the crews who go in to rescue the downed pilots face danger themselves.

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And to Pamela's point, clearly Iran maintains a capability to threaten U.S. aircraft, and that would be -- that would also be consistent for the aircraft that have now -- that are now flying over Iranian territory to -- in an attempt to rescue these pilots.

BROWN: Yes, dangerous all around. Jim Sciutto, keep us posted. I know you're continuing to work your sources on this very serious situation. As you said, it is the most dangerous in a war like this for a U.S. service member to be downed in enemy territory during the war. We're going to continue to track this, and we'll be right back.

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BLITZER: We're continuing to follow the major breaking news right now. A U.S. fighter jet, an F-15 we're told, has been downed by the Iranians inside Iran. And it is believed that the two pilots onboard that F-15 ejected and are now on the ground someplace.

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The U.S. military has already launched a search and rescue team, an operation to try to find these pilots and bring them home safely. It's not an easy assignment by any means, but it's critically important.

Colonel Leighton and Sabrina Singh, let's talk a little bit about this. Presumably, this plane took off, this F-15, flying over Iran from one of the U.S. bases in the region, in the Persian Gulf, whether it's the Al Udeid Air Base inside Qatar or the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia or even an air base in Kuwait. The U.S. has many operational capabilities in the region.

LEIGHTON: It certainly does, Wolf. And the bases that you mentioned are key to this operation because what they do is they allow the U.S. to project its power very close to the Iranian shoreline. And in this particular case, you know, wherever those F-15s came from, probably my guess would be it was either Kuwait or Al Udeid in Qatar. Those areas are, you know, really essential because they allow them to extend their range into the southwestern and central parts of Iran.

So, when they do that, they can go in there and they try to -- their basic mission is to go suppress enemy air defenses, and they can go in and suppress as much as they possibly can. But when you're engaged in a suppression mission like this, the risk is that the targets that you're trying to eliminate are actually the ones that are also tracking you.

And in some cases, they have the capability to track these aircraft, not just with the radar signature, but also, with the heat signature. And if they track them with the heat signature, that makes it much more difficult for the radar warning receivers on board the aircraft to track what the enemy is doing. So, that becomes a part of the difficulty here. It's a very complex environment.

Even though we maintain air superiority in spite of what happened here, there is still the possibility that we can lose air crews in a situation like this. So, it's always a risky mission. This is not something that you can do without considerable planning.

BLITZER: Very risky indeed. And, Sabrina Singh, we heard from the president the other night when he was addressing the nation. He basically was making the case that the U.S. has decimated the entire Iranian military for all practical purposes, but they still have some impressive capabilities to be sure they are not completely decimated.

SINGH: That's right. I think the U.S. military has had tactical successes in destroying some of Iran's navy, air force, its military, its IRGC command and control centers. But the reality on the ground is that Iran still maintains capabilities. And that -- you know, from CNN's own reporting, that they have not destroyed all of their ballistic and missile facilities that are still launching that we've seen probably brought down this fighter jet. So -- and then not to mention also their drone capabilities as well.

So, it's fair that this administration does take a victory lap on destroying some of Iran's military, but the fact that it has not destroyed all of it goes to show in this incident that they maintain capabilities and also, they maintain the capabilities to close the Strait of Hormuz, which we have talked about extensively on CNN, just the impact that Iran has been able to have on the chokehold of the strait and on the global markets itself.

BLITZER: I want to get your reaction to what President Trump tweeted just a little while ago. He said, the biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again. Then he said, much more to follow. It is time for Iran to make a deal before it is too late, and there is nothing left of what still could become a great country. President Donald J. Trump.

LEIGHTON: Yes. So, you know, obviously attacking infrastructure areas is a critical element of an air campaign. And going after a bridge like the one that's between the city of Tehran and the town of Karaj is a significant area because the intelligence that they had, it seems to indicate that this was used to move pieces of, you know, the drone and missile program efforts. They would be building them in one place and then move it to another, you know, for final assembly. So, this bridge was possibly used for that purpose. At least that's what, you know, the military is basically telling us right now.

So, in a case like that, going after the infrastructure is a critical component. Whether or not that makes that bridge, which is ostensibly the tallest in Iran, whether that is eliminated permanently, that remains to be seen. But the Iranians do a very good job of actually, you know, making it, rebuilding a top national priority. So, we have to expect them to rebuild this eventually. But it's going to take some time because that was an impressive engineering project and kind of like the Kerch Bridge, you know, between Russia and Crimea.

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This is one of those areas, not quite as extensive as that and not quite as long as that, but still a very big engineering project. And when you attack something like that, that goes to attacking the national pride of the country involved and also goes to attacking their capabilities. And that's a significant psychological element and that's, I think, what the president was trying to mention here in his post.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Yes. That happened against this backdrop now of this downed U.S. fighter jet. We believe that the pilots ejected. There was a search-and-rescue mission underway by the U.S., but also, from the Iranians, and the Iranians, according to our reporting, are offering a reward for the capture of these pilots. So, a very dangerous situation. Colonel Cedric Leighton, Sabrina Singh, thank you both.

We're going to be live back to the region for the very latest on this search. We'll be right back.

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