US fighter jet shot down over Iran, search under way for crew member, US officials say

A US fighter jet has been shot down over Iran and search-and-rescue efforts have so far recovered one of two crew members who ejected, a US official told Reuters, in the first known incident of its kind in the nearly five-week-old war.

The Pentagon and US Central Command did not respond to requests for comment.

The prospect of a US pilot being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for the United States in a conflict that, according to opinion polls, has struggled to win popular support among Americans.