Iran offering 'prize' for US pilot to be handed over as search continues for missing crew member from downed jet
Iran has said it's offering a 'prize' to anyone who can locate a missing crew member of a US jet which went down over Iran.
One member of the F-15E fighter jet's crew has now been rescued, but a second is still missing.
The US and Israel are continuing their sustained air campaign against Iran, carrying out strikes on many Iranian cities as well as targeting the country's infrastructure.
Iran has responded by launching missile strikes against neighbouring countries across the Middle East, as well as at US military bases in the region.
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The Islamic Republic has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 percent of world oil shipping has to pass, and oil prices have surged as a result.
US officials have confirmed to CBS that an F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran, and Iran has also claimed responsibility for the plane being downed, though this has not yet been verified by a third party.
Now, Iranian officials are offering a money reward for anyone who is able to capture the missing crew member and bring them to the Iranian authorities.
Sky News international correspondent Diana Magnay said: "The F-15 fighter jet went down over Iran, with one pilot rescued and the other still missing.
"Obviously Tehran and Washington are desperately keen to get their hands on him or her.
"And there's a reward out on that pilot's head with the local governors saying, you get $60,000 if you hand him over alive or her alive to police in the region."
She added that there are also reports that US special forces have been dispatched on a search and rescue mission to bring back the missing crew member.
The F-15E began development in the 1980s, and is used as a multi-purpose strike fighter.
Due to it being an older design it doesn't have the capabilities of high-tech 21st century 'fifth generation' jets such as the F-22 and F-35, which boast stealth capabilities to help them to avoid detection on radar.
Nonetheless, the downing of the jet casts aspersions on claims that Donald Trump and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have previously made about Iranian air defence capabilities.
Hegseth has said before that the US has 'complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace'.
Meanwhile, Trump said: "They have no anti-aircraft equipment, their radar is 100% annihilated, we are unstoppable as a military force."
Iran's air strategy has relied heavily on the use of drones and missiles, with drones being much cheaper to mass produce than a state-of-the-art fighter jet.
Kit Roberts