US F-15 Shot Down Over Iran, CENTCOM Cites 'Mechanical Failure'
Iranian state media reported Friday that an F-15 combat jet, widely believed to be American, was shot down over Iranian territory, with search and rescue operations underway for two service members. This report from Tehran marks a significant escalation in the ongoing, undeclared joint US-Israeli aggression against Iran, an operation Washington consistently attempts to portray as limited support
rather than direct participation. Predictably, and in a pattern repeated for decades, US Central Command (CENTCOM) quickly issued a statement attributing the incident to 'mechanical failure.' This narrative stands in stark contrast to the Iranian claims, yet it closely mirrors previous instances where US combat losses have been reclassified. In 1988, following the shootdown of Iran Air Flight 655
by the USS Vincennes, which killed 290 civilians, the US initially claimed mechanical failure on the Iranian plane and only much later admitted guilt and never officially apologized. Just as the US military routinely downplays combat deaths as 'non-hostile incidents' and transforms shootdowns into 'crashes' or 'malfunctions,' the instant disavowal of Iranian involvement here is less about
immediate fact and more about managing public perception of a deepening entanglement. The F-15, a cornerstone of US air superiority, has a combat record spanning over 40 years, yet official US military histories are replete with instances where its losses to enemy action are often obscured. This episode coincides with a sustained period of US and Israeli provocations against Iran, including the