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Iran shot down<\/span> a U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jet, U.S. officials said on Friday.<\/p>\n The officials told The Intercept that the military hastily mounted a search-and-rescue operation to reach the survivors before Iranian forces did.<\/p>\n The downing of the U.S. plane undermined an assertion of strength President Donald Trump made in a nationally televised speech<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated,\u201d Trump said Wednesday. \u201cWe are unstoppable as a military force.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A month ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iranian leaders were \u201clooking up and seeing only U.S. and Israeli air power every minute of every day until we decide it\u2019s over.\u201d He continued: \u201cIran will be able to do nothing about it. B-2s, B-52s, B-1s, Predator drones, fighters controlling the skies, picking targets, death and destruction from the sky all day long.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Neither the White House nor the Pentagon responded to requests for comment on how Iran could down an advanced U.S. aircraft when the country supposedly no longer possesses anti-aircraft weaponry.<\/p>\n The loss of the F-15 is the first known instance of an American combat aircraft shot down in Iran since the war began in late February. It comes after Trump repeatedly threatened critical infrastructure in Iran and the U.S. struck the B1 bridge<\/a> outside of Tehran, which killed eight people and wounded 95, according to Iranian news media.<\/p>\n The U.S. officials\u00a0told The Intercept that the aircraft had a two-person crew and that one crew member was rescued and is receiving medical treatment for injuries. The fate of the other remains unknown.\u00a0<\/p>\n