Iran reports destroying US aircraft during failed rescue operation, while Washington says pilot was successfully retrieved in complex mission. Key Developments Iran says US rescue mission failed, multiple aircraft destroyed near Isfahan. US officials say missing F-15 crew member was successfully recovered. Conflicting accounts emerge over scale and outcome of rescue operation. Iran Claims Rescue Operation Was Thwarted Iranian Armed Forces said on Sunday that they had foiled a US attempt to rescue a downed pilot, destroying multiple aircraft south of Isfahan in central Iran, according to Tasnim news agency.
A spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the operation targeted US aircraft involved in an infiltration mission to extract a pilot whose fighter jet had been shot down earlier.
The spokesperson said Iranian forces—including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the army, Basij units, and law enforcement—carried out a coordinated response that resulted in the destruction of several aircraft, including two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 military transport plane.
The statement described the outcome as a “failure” for the United States, drawing comparisons to the 1980 Operation Eagle Claw.
The IRGC added that its air defenses also shot down an MQ-9 drone over Isfahan, adding that four similar drones had been downed in the province over the past five days.
Iranian military officials said the total number of drones downed since the start of the war has reached 162, reflecting what they described as growing control over national airspace.
Tasnim also reported that US forces had carried out strikes in Kohgiluyeh province after failing to locate the missing pilot.
Iranian authorities called on civilians to assist in locating the pilot, who they said remained missing.
US Says Pilot Rescued in Large-Scale Operation In contrast, US officials told CBS News that the missing crew member from the downed F-15E fighter jet was successfully rescued early Sunday.
According to CBS, the operation involved dozens of aircraft and special operations forces, who located the pilot using a tracking beacon.
US President Donald Trump claimed on his Truth social account that the crew member had been retrieved in “one of the most daring” operations conducted by US forces.
US officials said the pilot sustained injuries but was in stable condition.
They added that during earlier rescue attempts, a US helicopter came under fire, injuring some crew members, while an A-10 aircraft involved in the mission was also hit, forcing the pilot to eject before being recovered.
If neither side can provide concrete evidence of him being in their custody, could the airman still be at large, waiting in the mountains somewhere to be rescued? I imagine he was exfil’d given the amount of resources expended to achieve that but anything the Trump admin says should be met with a massive amount of doubt.
You’d think if Iran had captured him they would easily provide photo or video proof.
The Iranians never said they had a pilot, though, they said they “foiled an attempt”. I bet the Americans made more than one attempt, and one was sucessful.
From the article
Iranian authorities called on civilians to assist in locating the pilot, who they said remained missing.
Same with the states… But the states wouldn’t hang the guy as proof
So… the pilot is still out there waiting to be rescued/captured
No clue, but if either side had him it would be easy to prove
Off topic, but if you put "> " on the empty lines the quote bar thingy will be rendered contiguously.
> Like
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> ThisBecomes
Like
This
Don’t forget the single space after the greater-than sign.
Cheers!
Weird how there isn’t any photos or videos of the rescued pilot being circulated.
I am suspicious that he was not found and claiming he was, was a stunt.
Just a lie. As usual.
Wow. I wonder how they would even keep such a thing under wraps.
It’s equally weird that Iran isn’t releasing any photos or videos of him remaining a POW.
Of course, if either did, then the other would probably claim they were deepfakes (or put out deepfakes of their own to muddy the waters).
Fuck, I hate this timeline.
Reading comprehension? Iran says they do not have the pilot and are looking to find him.
Jeez, you expect me to read all the way down to 2/3 of the way through the article?! I mean, I get that OP made it easy for me by pasting it into the post body, but still…!
So you invented information on a topic about which you didn’t read even a remotely related sentence. And then chose to challenge your own made-up story. You are on a path to get manipulated for the rest of your life. I recommend for you to learn processing information accurately and critically reflecting on it.
That was my way of attempting to humorously acknowledge my mistake. Would you prefer if I’d tried to double-down instead, like most people do?
My apologies, I missed that. 5 years ago I might have assumed better, but people’s attention span has decreased so much that I thought you were serious from other similar exchanges. My bad.
Iran isn’t claiming they captured the pilot, but that they stopped the rescue mission.
Exactly. It almost suggests he’s dead
Iran says he’s still missing.
Some are questioning whether it even really was a rescue mission. It may have been preparation for an attack on Iran’s uranium:
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/its-official-us-boots-on-ground-deep
While both sides are full of shit, this does seem more on line with Trump’s history of leaning heavily on specialist units and generally not caring about their lives if it’s politically convenient. I firmly believe if Iran hadn’t spilled the beans on the missing pilot there wouldn’t have been a mission to rescue, but also for any soldiers lost on the mission(s) I find it hard to believe it’s going to help their families feel better about their crew’s deaths to rescue one pilot.
Trump’s history of using navy seals for example constantly is very well documented. Many elite units have been put into unnecessary danger for political wins. There’s a reason Obama didn’t lose 250 seals killing Osama and it’s a modicum of respect for the lives of the soldiers and so a demand for better intelligence.
Both sides of this war are completely full of shit, so it’s very hard to tell what to make of this claim.
I hope for this pilots sake they were rescued, I would not want to be prisoner in an Iranian jail.
This is the dumbest war in US history.
Everyone is motivated to lie. The age of knowledge has done a 180 to the age of “I don’t know what the fuck is truth or a lie”.
CBS is no longer a credible news organization. You should immediately second guess, and probably entirely doubt, anything being attributed to them.
Both sides of this war are terrible people who lie their asses So, who the fuck knows?
It was from a video https://youtu.be/pksAfYLqJbM
The references to other news like CBS, is a reference to Trump’s claims.
The Iranians released a video claiming the statements posted.
Why would the US send a C130 transport into enemy airspace to rescue a single person? I get the blackhawk part, but not that. Doubt activated.
MC-130J Commando II, not just a regular C-130. These guys serve as a temporary base and refueling point for helicopters. Supposedly where they decided to land and make a temporary base turned out to work except that it was not good enough to take off, so they destroyed the planes to protect the sensitive equipment from falling into Iran’s hands.
It is normal for the US to send in people to rescue downed pilots, but this one required a greater mission just because of how advanced Iran is militarily. So while this was pretty much a historic rescue mission in terms of size, it’s not surprising given that it’s in Iran.
Now, does that mean it wasn’t something else? No. I’m incredibly skeptical of US and Iranian propaganda.
But from most things I’m reading about this, it seems like this is quite plausibly a response to the downed pilots. Consider how much Trump does not want Iranians to be able to parade a captured pilot around right now in the war / not a war that he’s already won. I don’t think this large of a response is unbelievable.
I think doubt is healthy. But I also think it’s quite a plausible response in the circumstances. :shrug:
This guy thinks they were trying to build a operating base in Iran and the plane got shot down helping that. The whole “rescue” was a smokescreen to disguise that operation.
Is that person the blog author?
Ya, I didn’t mean to link to the thread. Oops
Even though both sides are untrustworthy, I feel like they’re each giving half of the full story. The US is giving a toned-down recount of how much was lost during the mission, while Iran is emphasizing how much they were able to take down, so it’s probably in the middle (but definitely more of a shit show Hegseth will ever admit to).
As for the missing/recovered pilot, this article is weird about it. Iran says they’re certain he wasn’t rescued, while also admitting that they have no clue where he is. So unless they’ve been tapped into the US military communications and overheard that they still haven’t found the pilot, I gotta lean toward him being recovered. Otherwise, whoever reported that the mission was a success to shitstain trump is going to be fired so damn fast for embarrassing him.
Hmm, the state that tells the truth isn’t trustworthy, and the lyingest lying state is also untrustworthy. 🤓
They both lie. That’s an insane take to think that (I assume) Iran doesn’t lie. There are no governments that don’t lie. Hell, there are no people who don’t lie. If you can’t see what motivation either party would have to lie here than you’re really out of touch with reality.
