TEHRAN — Iran’s military command announced on Sunday that a United States rescue operation aimed at recovering the pilot of a downed F-15E fighter-bomber has ended in failure, with Iranian air defences shooting down two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 military transport aircraft in the south of Isfahan province.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam Al-Anbiya central headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces, confirmed the development in a statement carried by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the country’s state-run broadcaster. “The enemy’s efforts to rescue the pilot of the downed plane have failed. In the south of Isfahan, enemy air targets were shot down, including two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 military transport aircraft — they are now on fire,” Zolfaghari declared.
The downed aircraft at the centre of the rescue attempt is believed to be an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bomber, a two-seat variant of the iconic McDonnell Douglas jet capable of both air superiority and precision ground-attack missions. The aircraft was reportedly brought down by Iranian air defence systems, prompting at least one crew member to eject over Iranian territory.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency had previously reported that the Iranian military may have captured the American pilot who ejected following the shootdown of the F-15E. The fate of the second crew member remains unclear at the time of publication. The failed rescue operation, which involved the deployment of both rotary-wing assets and a large fixed-wing transport aircraft deep into Iranian airspace, represents a significant escalation in what has become an increasingly direct military confrontation between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The loss of three additional aircraft — two Black Hawks and a C-130 — in a single rescue sortie underscores the operational reach and effectiveness of Iran’s integrated air defence network, which has been substantially upgraded in recent years. The incident draws uncomfortable historical parallels with Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, the ill-fated US attempt to rescue American hostages held in Tehran, which also ended in catastrophic failure on Iranian soil.
No immediate statement had been issued by the Pentagon or the White House at the time of this report, though a separate report indicated that US President Donald Trump had earlier claimed the rescue of the second pilot of the downed F-15E — a claim that now appears to be in direct contradiction with the Iranian military’s account of events on the ground.
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