Armed Iranian tribesmen search for missing US crew member in remote hills

TEHRAN, IRAN: Iranian tribesmen have been searching rugged mountainous terrain for a missing American crew member after a US fighter jet was shot down over Iran, according to state media reports.

The search effort is centered in remote regions, including Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Provinces and areas inhabited by Bakhtiari tribes. At the same time, Iranian news outlets said that groups of tribesmen shot at American helicopters that were part of the search.

Tribesmen join search as helicopters targeted

Groups of Iranian tribesmen shot at American helicopters searching for a crew member missing after a fighter jet was shot down over Iran, state media reported Saturday.

In the remote mountainous areas of the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province and the Bakhtiari region, tribesmen shot at two Black Hawk helicopters, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commended the tribesmen for serving as “courageous, valiant and victorious guardians of the borders,” according to Fars.

Fars released a video on Friday purporting to show nomadic Bakhtiari tribesmen, rifles in hand, searching for the American crew member in the mountains of Iran’s Khuzestan province.

“God willing, he will be found,” one of the men says.

Iranian officials have offered large cash rewards for the successful capture of the missing crew member.

It is the first time the United States has lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, which could further pressure President Donald Trump to end the fighting.

Iran highlights air defense system, warns of further action

Separately, the IRGC highlighted what it described as a new aerial defense system, which it claimed was used to shoot down the jet and target the helicopters involved in the search operation.

In a video released by the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, the spokesman of the Central Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters warned of further attacks to come from the new system.

“We will certainly achieve full control over the skies of our country and will prove the enemy’s humiliation to the world more than ever before,” he said.

The search took place in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, which is known for its mountains.

An anchor on a channel linked to Iranian state television told people to give any "enemy pilot" they found to the police, which was a first in the war.

Iran has said in the past that it shot down piloted planes, but those claims were not true.

The US warplane, identified by Iran as an F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued.