The downing of a U.S. aircraft and the dayslong search for a missing crew member has pierced the aura of invincibility that President Donald Trump has sought to project as he tries to stave off the increasing political risks of the Iran war he started five weeks ago alongside Israel.

Trump has repeatedly claimed dominance over Iranian airspace and used maximalist rhetoric to suggest the U.S. has won and that Iran’s military capability has been eliminated in an effort to calm markets and an American public that is strongly opposed to the war.

"They have no anti-aircraft protection. They have no nothing. They don’t have anything,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "They’re not putting up a fight. They’re not even shooting at us, OK?”

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