A US Air Force officer whose fighter jet was shot down in Iran was successfully rescued in an audacious night-time mission. While President Donald Trump bragged that there was no loss of life during the op, it wasn’t, however, without sacrifices. US forces had to reportedly blow up their own aircraft while retreating.
According to a US official who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, two MC-130J transport planes, used for covert infiltration and extraction behind enemy lines, were involved in the operation. The aircraft appeared to have become stuck during the mission, without going into how this happened.
It became necessary to destroy the two planes to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, the official said.
Mocking Washington, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf shared a photo on X of the smouldering remains of the destroyed warplanes. “If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined,” he wrote.
‘DARING’ RESCUE BEHIND ENEMY LINES
The rescued officer was the second of two crew members aboard an F-15E fighter jet that Iran said it had brought down with its air defences on Friday.
Reuters reported that the first crew member had already been retrieved, while both Iran and the US launched a frantic search for the remaining airman.
Trump said the US military “sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons” to retrieve the stranded crew member.
“WE GOT HIM!” a jubilant Trump posted on Truth Social following the successful extraction.
He said the airman was rescued “in the treacherous mountains of Iran”, calling it unprecedented. “This is the first time in military memory that two US pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory,” Trump said.
The rescued officer, whom the US President identified as a colonel, was the weapons-systems officer on the downed warplane.
“He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine. This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation,” Trump said.
According to an Israeli security source, Israel shared intelligence with the US for the rescue of the stranded airman in Iran and suspended its own attacks in the area to aid the effort.
IRAN CLAIMS MORE US LOSSES
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said several US aircraft were destroyed during the rescue operation, according to Iranian media reports.
“During a joint operation (Aerospace, Ground Force, Popular Units, Basij and Police command), enemy aircraft were destroyed,” the IRGC said, after Iran’s police command announced that an American C-130 transport plane had been downed in southern Isfahan.
A spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the unified command of Iran’s armed forces, said the aircraft lost included a C-130 military transport plane and two Black Hawk helicopters.
According to a CNN tally, at least seven manned US aircraft have been destroyed in the war so far. The F-15 with the two pilots and an A-10 were brought down in separate incidents last week.
If the latest Iranian claims are confirmed, the total would hit double digits, which would be a slap in the face for Trump after repeated assertions of the US’s aerial superiority over Iran.
– Ends
Tune In
