WASHINGTON

US defense officials dismissed reports on social media Thursday that an American fighter jet was shot down over Basra, Iraq.

"These reports are false," a Pentagon official told Anadolu.

Some local media reports suggested that Basra Police Command was searching for an American pilot whose fighter jet crashed within the borders of the province after it was allegedly intercepted above Iraq by Iranian air defenses.

Later, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on the US social media company X’s platform that the reports are "baseless and not true."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also rejected the claims during a press conference, saying the reports were part of Iranian disinformation.

“As CENTCOM pointed out, those reports of an F-15 being shot down are false,” he said. “Iran is doing everything it can to peddle lies, deception and inflation of numbers and reality, mostly to propagandize to their own people.”

Hegseth also stressed that the US military continues to operate according to its objectives.

“One of the objectives the president has always said is that Iran will not have nuclear bomb capabilities,” he said, adding that operational details about potential targets would not be disclosed.