WATCH | Iran releases first footage claiming US aircraft downed during rescue operation

Iranian state media on Sunday (Apr 5) released the first footage of what it claimed to be the wreckage of several US aircraft downed during the American military operation to rescue the stranded crew member of the F-15E that was shot down in Iran. This comes after US President Donald Trump confirmed that the airman was “SAFE and SOUND” after he was recovered from Iran following “the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History.” The F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down over southern Iran on Friday (Apr 3), the first such incident since the start of the war. While the first pilot was rescued by the US forces earlier, the second had remained missing behind the enemy lines as American and Iranian forces raced to locate him. Reports suggested that the second crew member from the downed F-15E has been recovered after a “heavy firefight”.

Following the rescue operation, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by Tasnim news ​agency that several aircraft were destroyed during the US mission to locate the stranded pilot. Earlier, Iran’s police command announced that an American C-130 plane had been downed in the south of Isfahan.

“During a joint operation (Aerospace, Ground ⁠Force, Popular Units, Basij ​and Police command), enemy aircraft ​were destroyed,” IRGC said.

According to the spokesperson ⁠of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the unified command of the Iranian armed forces, the downed US aircraft included a C-130 military transport plane and two ​Black ⁠Hawk helicopters. Meanwhile, Iran’s army said that it had shot down an Israeli drone in the same province.

‘Miraculous’ rescue operation

Trump said that while the pilot had sustained injuries, there were no US casualties in the rescue operation. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said, “This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue. At my direction, the U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him.”

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported that overnight strikes in the Kouh-e Siah area in southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province during the US rescue mission killed five people.

How was US pilot rescued from Iran?

According to a New York Times report, hundreds of special forces troops and dozens of US warplanes, helicopters, and cyber, space and other intelligence capabilities were employed to save the crew member. The US forces had a firefight with Iranian convoys. The report added that two transport planes that would carry the commandos and the airmen to safety got stuck at a remote base in Iran, following which they decided to fly three new planes to extract all the US military personnel and the airmen. They blew up the two disabled planes to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands.
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