United States Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Shot down

Iranian forces shot down an MQ-9 Reaper over Qeshm Island during the night of 6 May 2026. Iranian media subsequently showed wreckage of the aircraft's external fuel tanks. The loss came during the pause in Operation Project Freedom, the US effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, when surveillance flights continued over the strait's approaches even as offensive operations were briefly suspended pending negotiations.