On April 1, 2026, in a prime-time address to the nation from the White House, Trump said of Iran: “They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100% annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force.”
Two days later, at 4:40 a.m. local time on April 3, an F-15E Strike Eagle with the callsign Dude 44 was shot down over southwestern Iran by a shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missile. The same day an A-10 was hit by Iranian fire; it flew out of Iranian airspace before the pilot ejected over Kuwait, where the aircraft crashed. That pilot was safe.
The F-15E carried two crew. The pilot was recovered within hours. The weapons systems officer, described by the Air Force as a highly respected colonel, was on the ground in Iran from April 3 to April 5. He was significantly injured, treated his own wounds, and sheltered in a mountain crevice using survival and evasion training until a rescue operation launched overnight on April 4, involving 155 aircraft, brought him out. Iranian fire also struck two Black Hawk helicopters assisting the search, causing minor injuries.
A claim can be overtaken by events without being a lie. What makes this one different is what happened next. On April 6, three days after the losses were public and after the rescue had been reported, Trump said at a press conference that Iran is “at the weakest point they've ever been. They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft weaponry, they have no radar. They have no communication.” PolitiFact fact-checked the statement that day.