A US fighter jet has been shot down over Iran.
The Iranian government said Friday morning, according to the Iranian news agency Mehr, Reuters news agency reports.
It is unlikely that the pilot survived, it continues.
The alleged shooting down has not been immediately commented on by the US side. However, an unnamed US official confirmed to Reuters that a US fighter jet had been shot down and that a rescue operation was underway.
According to Iranian media, the country's military is also searching for the plane's pilot, for whom a bounty has also been offered, AFP reports.
According to the news agency dpa, Iran's Revolutionary Guard says that it is an American fighter jet of the F-35 type, which is one of the most advanced and high-tech fighter jets.
However, according to the news agency, several sources with military insight point out on social media that the photos that Iran has published of the wreckage from the plane should show an F-15 fighter jet.
This is probably the second time that Iran has hit an American fighter jet since the US and Israel started the war in Iran on February 28.
Two weeks ago, a fighter jet had to make an emergency landing after a mission over Iran.
Tim Hawkins, spokesman for the US military's Central Command, Centcom, confirmed this to CNN at the time. He said at the time that the incident would be investigated.
Unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN on March 19 that the plane had most likely been hit by Iranian gunfire.
A total of 13 American soldiers had lost their lives in the war before Friday's announcement from Iran about the downed fighter jet.
On Friday night, US President Donald Trump threatened to expand US attacks to include Iranian power plants.
This happened after the US allegedly attacked a highway bridge connecting Iran's capital, Tehran, with the city of Karaj on Thursday.
- Our military, which is the largest and most powerful in the world, has not even begun to destroy what is left of Iran, Trump wrote on his social media, Truth Social.
- Now it's the bridges that are next, and then the power plants. The new regime's leadership knows what needs to be done, and it needs to be done quickly, he added.
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