India, April 3 -- After Iran claimed to have downed a second US F-35 fighter jet, and some reports mentioned an F-15E too, there continues widespread speculation about the fate of the pilots on Friday.

Iran's state-run and semi-official news outlets have cited officials to say the pilot of the F-35 downed in central Iran was unlikely to have survived, while some reports said he may have been captured already.

As for the claim around the F-15E jet, a local channel of Iranian state television claimed on Friday that its "pilot(s)" ejected from their aircraft over southwestern Iran, news agency AP noted. The anchor read the following announcement: "If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will rec...