Conflicting reports about possible U.S. F-15 incident in southern Iraq

Conflicting reports emerged about a possible U.S. F-15 incident in southern Iraq, with Iraqi security officials saying a search is underway for an American pilot in Basra province while the U.S. military denied reports that a fighter jet had crashed.

Iraq’s Basra Police Command told Al Jazeera that personnel had gone out to search for an American pilot who went down within the province’s borders and had not yet been found.

Basra Police also confirmed to Rudaw that a U.S. aircraft had crashed in the province and that security forces had launched a search operation for the pilot.

“Rumors are circulating on social media of a U.S. fighter jet crash over Basra,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement shortly after. “These are baseless and NOT TRUE.”

At a press conference on Thursday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also rejected reports that an F-15 had been shot down.

“Those reports of an F-15 being shot down are false,” Hegseth said. “As you can imagine, Iran is doing everything it can to peddle in lies, deception and inflation of numbers and reality, mostly to propagandize to their own people. They hope they can convince their own population that they are having success.”

A similar report circulated Wednesday claiming that a U.S. F-15E had been shot down over Iran and that the pilot or pilots had been recovered, but no evidence has emerged to support that claim. CENTCOM said those reports were false.