The Iranian armed forces said today that they shot down three US military aircraft involved in the search and rescue operation for the second crew member of the US F-15 that went down in Iran on Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump had noted shortly before that this officer was rescued and is “safe and sound” after a major operation by the U.S. military.
“Enemy aircraft that infiltrated the southern part of Isfahan — including two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 military transport aircraft — were hit and are now engulfed in flames,” the Iranian Armed Forces Unified Command said, adding that the US rescue operation “failed.”
State media in Iran broadcast images of charred wreckage scattered across a deserted area, from which smoke was still billowing.
Tasnim news agency, for its part, said five people were killed in southwestern Iran in airstrikes carried out during the rescue operation, without specifying whether they were civilians or military personnel.
Earlier, the Iranian military said it had shot down an Israeli drone also in Isfahan province.
