Nigeria, April 3 -- US officials have confirmed that a fighter jet was shot down over Iran and that a search and rescue operation is currently being conducted to locate the pilot.

Reuters reports that the officials said the military is on the lookout to confirm if the pilot is still alive.

Iran, on the other hand, has urged its citizens to be on the lookout for survivors. Although it was earlier claimed that the pilot was unlikely to have survived the crash.

The IRGC also flooded social media with purported images of the wreck.

However, the officials did not specify if the aircraft downed was indeed the US F-35 fighter jet, which Iran has claimed it struck. Some reports say the aircraft was an F-15, an older version flown with two pil...