The Iranian armed forces announced on Sunday that they had shot down four US military aircraft involved in the rescue operation of the American aviator whose plane crashed in Iran on Friday.
Initially, the joint interarm command Khatam Al-Anbiya stated, “The enemy aircraft that entered the South of Isfahan – including two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 military transport plane – were hit and are now in flames.”
Shortly after, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Iranian armed forces command, described the operation as a “planned exfiltration mission to an abandoned airport in the South of Isfahan”, during which “two Black Hawk helicopters and two American C-130 military transport planes were destroyed.”
State media broadcast images of burnt debris scattered in a desert area, still emanating smoke.
The Tasnim news agency reported that strikes during the rescue operation resulted in five deaths in southwest Iran, without specifying whether they were civilians or military personnel.
Earlier on Sunday morning, Donald Trump had announced that the officer had been “rescued safely” during a military operation.
/2026/04/06/69d3c2a40ae57399421318.jpg "War in the Middle East: Striking Civilian Sites, as Donald Trump Threatens to do in Iran, Can It Be")
