TEHRAN/DUBAI – Iranian military officials announced on Sunday that several aircraft were destroyed in the southern part of Isfahan province during a U.S. operation to locate a stranded airman, sharply escalating tensions following the downing of an American fighter jet.
The announcement came after U.S. officials told Reuters late Saturday that a second crew member from an F-15 jet that went down in Iran on Friday had been rescued, following the recovery of the first crew member a day earlier. The condition and identities of the rescued pilots have not been disclosed.
In a statement carried by Iranian state media, the spokesperson for the unified command of the Iranian armed forces claimed that “additional investigations by experts on the ground revealed that two C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters of the U.S. army were destroyed by our forces.” No visual evidence or wreckage footage was immediately provided to support the claim.
In separate statements, the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also claimed to have downed an Israeli Hermes-900 drone and a U.S. MQ-9 drone in Isfahan province. Isfahan is home to several major military and nuclear facilities, including the Natanz uranium enrichment site, making it a strategically sensitive area.
Reuters could not immediately verify the Iranian accounts, and there was no immediate comment from the Pentagon or U.S. Central Command.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that U.S. search operations were conducted from Saturday evening across three different provinces: Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, and Isfahan. The mountainous and often remote terrain of these regions has historically complicated search-and-rescue missions.
Separately, Iranian media reported Sunday that strikes killed five people overnight in the country’s southwest during the rescue operation for the missing U.S. crew member. “Five people were martyred in last night’s attack on the Kouh-e Siah area” in southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, the Tasnim news agency quoted provincial official Iraj Kazemijou as saying. He added that the killings occurred while U.S. forces were attempting to locate “the pilot or pilots” of the downed fighter jet.
It remains unclear whether the reported casualties resulted from direct U.S. military action, airstrikes, or ground clashes. The U.S. has not yet acknowledged any strikes inside Iran as part of the rescue mission.
The incident marks a significant escalation in covert and direct military encounters between Iran and U.S.-allied forces. While the U.S. has not confirmed the exact circumstances of the F-15 crash, the region has seen a surge in drone and aircraft surveillance flights amid ongoing tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and regional proxy conflicts.
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