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Sources: Search Underway After U.S. Fighter Jet Shot Down In Iran. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:39]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown. And you're in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with breaking news, a major development in the war with Iran just minutes ago. U.S. sources confirmed to CNN that an American fighter jet has been shot down over Iran and a desperate and very dangerous search-and-rescue mission for the crew is now underway.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Three U.S. sources are confirming earlier Iranian state media reports. Those reports included these images you're seeing right here on the screen of what it claimed right down U.S. -- was a downed U.S. force fighter jet. CNN has reached out to U.S. Central Command for comment.

I want to bring in CNN's Jim Sciutto who was in Tel Aviv Israel and Alayna Treene at the White House. Jim to kick it off with you, what more are you learning?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: As you noted there, U.S. officials now confirming that the U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iranian territory and that a search-and-rescue operation has been lost and to our knowledge remains underway in fact there have been images circulating online geo located by CNN which are consistent with a search-and-rescue operation. They show both fixed- wing aircraft and helicopters including one video that shows the refueling of two helicopters.

And that's notable because they would be refueled to stay in the air which would indicate that they've been in the air for some time conducting the search-and-rescue operations. Serious, arguably one of the most serious circumstances in wartime is to have U.S. forces behind enemy lines shot down, behind enemy lines and to then launch a search-and-rescue operation which though they are trained for these crews are positioned for these operations and trained for these operations.

Those operations themselves are dangerous as well because they put additional U.S. forces over Iranian territory in wartime and where it's already been demonstrated that Iran maintains the capabilities to threaten the U.S. aircraft having shot down one. So those forces will be operating with great care but also with immediacy to get those pilots safely and in time.

We should note that Iranian state T.V. is it earlier reported the shoot down was exhorting viewers to turn in pilots if they were to find them before U.S. forces do. So one might say there's was something of a race going on right between Iranian authorities and forces -- and U.S. forces to get those pilots to safety.

We're going to continue to watch this and particularly with attention, Pamela and Wolf, to if and when we get confirmation as to the status of those pilots.

BROWN: All right. Jim Sciutto, thank you. We hope that they are safe and that they are rescued. We appreciate it.

Let's go now to Alayna Treene at the White House. Alayna, what do you hear in there?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, so this is reporting from, you know, three U.S. official to my colleague Haley Britzky, Kevin Liptak and I, as Jim laid out, that a U.S. fighter jet has been shot down over Iran and search-and-rescue is underway. I will note that at this point there is very little information we actually know about what is happening related to this.

We do not know where the plane went down. We do not know the status of the crew on board. And we are not hearing any official word from the U.S. military or the White House at this moment. Though of course, we do know that they are monitoring this very closely and obviously this is a very sensitive thing and so they're being very careful with what they're going to be putting out publicly.

Now, I will say one thing we have been hearing of course is you, you know, repeatedly I'm hearing in my conversations with people in that building behind me you have to be careful with what you're hearing from the Iranian state media which of course has been sharing a lot of videos and images this morning of this. But what we did hear as well from the state-run Tasnim agency, they said that the search for any missing crew had "So far been unsuccessful."

And I do want to say part of the reason this is so notable is because this incident does mark the first time that a U.S. aircraft has been shot down over Iran since the beginning of this conflict for context. We do know that, you know, near the beginning of the war three F-15s were mistakenly shot down in a friendly fighter incident by Kuwaiti air defenses but this is the first time we're seeing them shot down by enemy fire.

[11:05:09]

Now, again, we are waiting to hear what the White House will ultimately say on this and similarly with the military. But it is, you know, a huge blow for this Trump administration in particular at a time when you've heard the President try to project confidence about completely diminishing Iran's military capabilities. And so, we'll keep you posted as we learn more on this, Wolf and Pam. BLITZER: As soon as you get more information from the White House over there, Alayna, let us know and we'll bring you back and you'll report it to our viewers. Thank you very, very much.

I want to bring in CNN military analyst retired Colonel Cedric Leighton of the U.S. Air Force and CNN global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh former deputy Pentagon press secretary. Talk a little bit about the nature of what's going on right now, how painful, how difficult this is for the U.S. military specifically searching for these ejected U.S. pilots.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Wolf, this is one of the most emotional moments for anybody who is involved in flying operations and it goes for not only the pilots but the maintainers of the aircraft their commanders their operations officers all of the people and of course all the NCOs that make all of this happen.

So one of the key things that they're going through right now of course is that they're hoping and praying that the pilots, the aircrew can be rescued and brought home safely, so the effort that the U.S. Air Force makes in a situation like this is very extensive because what they're trying to do is they're trying to preserve the lives of the pilots so.

And what they're also trying to do is they're trying to make sure that they can not only get them out safely but do that with minimal damage to themselves and avoid and evade any enemy aircraft or ground forces that are coming for these elements. So the key element here is that they are not only waiting for information but they're going to be providing all kinds of overwatch.

What is really important is the force protection aspect of this and that extends not just when you, you know, cover and protect a base but also goes to individual people like members of this aircrew. So the big effort is, you know, you go into a combat zone like this you have the combat search-and-rescue capabilities available and those are then scrambled to respond to situations like this and that is what we're seeing the video from social media, from southwestern Iran shows those helicopters that they use these Pave Hawk helicopters being refueled as they go in for they probably need to go in a little bit further into the country then they would normally have the range to do and that's why they need to do.

They also have to be prepared to loiter for a fairly long time in order to find the pilots. The other aspect is that the pilots they have a capability to communicate with basically like a beacon to communicate with the crews that are searching for them and that's what the search-and-rescue crews or looking for. They are looking for that beacon. They're going to try to get them to a point where they can safely extract them.

And if all goes well they will able to be able to do so. But it is a significantly tough mission for very tough mission for them.

BLITZER: Very tough mission. And right now, we know that the U.S. military has a search-and-rescue operation underway looking for these two F-15 pilots who ejected and they're on the ground at least somewhere in Iran. But the Iranians are searching for them as well. God forbid if the Iranians find and capture these two pilots. How does that affect what's going on in this war?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, that's a worst-case scenario. And I think that's probably something that the intelligence community is going to digest and potentially be presenting to the Secretary of Defense and the President of what are the worst-case scenarios that can happen here and what are our options.

Now, of course you've seen the Secretary of Defense and the President say we've basically decimated Iran's military so would there be some type of operation to rescue them that you know is something that is many steps ahead that we don't know. But I think that is a worst-case scenario also when it comes to these potential negotiations that could happen, would these pilots be potentially used in that as like a chit at the table.

But I think what's also, you know, important here is that I'm assuming what would usually happen in a situation like this is the Secretary of Defense and his senior team would be getting real-time updates from U.S. Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper and potentially others in the region to understand how did this happen, what are the efforts ongoing. And it would almost be, you know, on an hourly basis.

And then the Secretary of Defense would then be briefing the President on the findings and that would also be, you know, going out on throughout the day. I think right now we just don't have a lot of information. And right now this is search and rescue so they're going to have to let those search and rescue teams do their jobs. The secretary is going to keep getting information and of course all we can do right now is keep those two pilots in our, you know, our thoughts and prayers and are the search-and-rescue teams on the ground as well.

[11:10:06]

BROWN: Very dangerous mission.

BLITZER: Very, very quickly because we got a special guest coming up. But the Pentagon, the U.S. military the Central Command they have to be very, very careful in what they release publicly. You used to have security clearances. You were a Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary. You understand how sensitive any information that comes out could be as far as implicating involving the search-and-rescue operation.

SINGH: That's right. And that's probably why you're not seeing information being released from the Pentagon or U.S. Central Command at this moment. They want to preserve that information to protect the pilots identity and also to ensure that the search-and-rescue mission can go underway safely. So I don't expect we're going to get a lot of information right now on especially on who the pilots are especially if there would have to be next-of-kin notifications. But right now what I would expect to see in the next few hours is Central Command acknowledging that there was some type of incident, that they're monitoring the situation, that the President, the Secretary have been briefed and that's pretty much all I would expect that we hear from Central Command for the next few hours at least.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: All right. Coming up after this break, you'll stay with us, we're going to speak to a former fighter pilot about the kind of training they get for situations just like this. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

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[11:15:57]

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're following the major breaking news right now. Three U.S. sources telling CNN that a U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iran. And we're getting this new image coming into CNN right now. This is an image published by the Iranian state media, and it appears to show a damaged fighter jet ejection seat on the ground. Look at that.

A CNN analysis of this image indicates this seat is consistent with a model used in a U.S. F-15E fighter jet. The seat, which separates from the aircrew during the ejection process, appears to have sustained damage with a portion of its back structure missing. And we're also learning that President Trump has been briefed on this situation. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf, let's bring in retired Lieutenant Colonel Amy McGrath. She's a former Marine combat fighter pilot, and we should note she's also running as a Democrat for Senate in Kentucky. Thanks for coming on. First off, what is your immediate reaction to this news that a U.S. fighter jet has been shot down in Iran? You just saw that picture there of the ejected seat. There's a search underway for the aircraft's crew.

LT. COL. AMY MCGRATH (RET.), FORMER U.S. MARINE COMBAT FIGHTER PILOT: Well, my immediate response or thought is, you know, really thinking of the families of this -- of the aircrew here. Look, I have always felt like Iran is a very big country. It's not the same as Iraq or Afghanistan. The administration has said that they have complete air supremacy and air superiority, and that, you know, the President has said, well, we've decimated their surface-to-air missile capabilities.

But a lot of us who flew fighter jets and know this space, shall we say, are very worried that that is not the case. And I think that this sort of just shows that. This F-15 was apparently shot down, and, you know, we're, hopefully the ongoing operations will get this aircrew out of here, but I'm very worried.

BLITZER: Can you give us a little sense of the sort of training these fighter pilots get for situations like this? MCGRATH: Sure. We have the best training in the world for our fighter pilots. We all go through survival school, whether you're in the Air Force or the Marine Corps, the Navy, or even the Army. If you're going to be flying over enemy territory, you're going to go through survival school in which you're trained on how to survive, but also how to survive a prisoner of war situation.

So if you are alive after the ejection, which, you know, the ejection itself is a very violent thing to happen to the body. So, you know, hopefully these crew made it through the ejection. But if you are alive, you are trained on how to communicate to the search-and-rescue forces that you know are going to be coming.

I mean, I think that's one of the things that we pride ourselves in military aviation. We've got friends out there that are going to come find us. And so even if you're not alive, there's -- we have mechanisms to, like beacons, shall we say, to find these -- the remains. So hopefully we will be able to get these air crew back.

But we are trained. And right now that's about as much as I can say, because it is a sensitive ongoing operation that you talked about earlier.

BROWN: Yes, we don't want to give too much away, certainly. My understanding is you were a combat pilot on an F-18. There's a lot of similarities between that and an F-15, which our reporting indicates was shot down there in Iran. To the extent you can, tell us about the sort of defenses these crew members have on their person when they eject from an aircraft over enemy territory.

[11:20:00]

MCGRATH: Well, that's a great question. When, you know, in an F-15E, it's much like the aircraft that I flew in the F-18 Delta. We have a pilot and a weapons systems officer. And, you know, when you eject, you don't have a ton of weaponry. You know, you might have your radio to be able to call and have friendly forces try to find you. And you may have a pistol on you and maybe a knife. And that's about it. I mean, there's just not a lot of room in the cockpit for extra stuff.

So I would say another thing to think about here is in ejecting over a place like Iran right now, think about the fact that we don't really know if the population there is for us or against us. And that makes it difficult. I mean, we had sort of this same thing in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. If you're going to be picked up by somebody who is going to turn you over to the Iranian, you know, forces that are going to use you and capture you, or is the population happy that you're there and want to help you. That we don't know. And so anybody that gets shot down over that space is having to deal with that uncertainty.

BLITZER: It's interesting, Colonel, an anchor for Iran's official Fars News Agency said a reward was being offered for anyone capturing a, "Enemy pilot or pilots." How concerning is that for you?

MCGRATH: Well, it's to be expected, right? And, you know, anytime you are trained to go into enemy territory, you know that that sort of thing is going to happen. The government there is probably going to do everything it can to find those pilots and weapons systems officer, and they'll do anything, you know, they'll influence the population to try to turn them over. And again, you know, we just don't know the status of that.

The other thing is, where did this happen within Iran? This is Iran is a huge area. People have to understand that Iran is the size land mass of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined. So you're talking a long way. If this happened, you know, somewhere in the middle of Iran, then it's going to be very hard to sustain operations to try to find these aircrew. But if it happened closer to the coast, you know, perhaps that's a better indication of, you know, our forces being able to stay on scene, shall we say, and try to get the folks back.

BROWN: And on that note, there are search and rescue teams out there looking for this pilot or pilots. We just don't know how many crew members were on board. Typically, there are two, but we don't know for certain. You know, you mentioned the great thing about the United States. If you're in the military, something like this happens, you have friends that are going to come out there and look for you no matter what, no matter how dangerous it is. And I imagine from your point of view, this is about as dangerous as it gets for a search and rescue mission.

MCGRATH: That's true. You know, if an F-15 can be shot down, you know, and the F-15 has some pretty significant mechanisms on board to try to prevent that from happening, you know, chaff and flares, for example, to try to be decoyed if missiles are shot at it, for example. Some of the slower moving aircraft, the C-130 that you saw and the helicopters, they're much more vulnerable. So it is concerning, and hopefully we can find these aircrew and bring them back.

BLITZER: And the good news is that the U.S. has several air bases nearby, whether in Qatar or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, not too far away to get involved in a search-and-rescue operation. But this does, Colonel, represent a major escalation in the war with Iran right now. What do you project potentially this could mean for how much longer this war could go on?

MCGRATH: Well, I'm very worried. I thought from the moment the President started this war that it was not going to be short. And the moment that Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz in this -- as a result of the President's actions here, that this was going to just escalate. And this is another indication of that.

You know, we sort of get used to, in today's day and age, drones being shot down, and we kind of don't think anything of it anymore. But I'll tell you what, when an aircrew gets shot down, it's real. And this is -- unfortunately, many of us in the aviation community were very worried that this could happen, and now it has. So I think it's definitely an escalation, and I'm very worried about that. I don't see a way out in the United States right now that's easy.

[11:25:13] BLITZER: Retired Lieutenant Colonel Amy McGrath, a retired Marine combat fighter pilot, thanks so much for your expertise, and especially thanks so much for your service over the years. We appreciate it very much.

We're going to stay on top of this major breaking news. Our coverage will continue right after this.

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