Details of U.S. military rescue revealed: two malfunctioning transport aircraft destroyed

Ask AI · Why are there conflicting accounts about the outcome of the rescue between the U.S. and Iran?

【By Wang Kaiwen, Observer Network】

After Iran shot down a U.S. F-15E fighter jet, the United States and Iran launched a contest to find the missing airmen.

On April 5, U.S. President Trump announced that the pilot had been rescued. However, an Iranian military spokesperson said that the U.S. rescue mission to save the pilot had “failed.”

According to Trump, over the past few hours, the U.S. military carried out “one of the boldest search-and-rescue operations in U.S. history,” finding the second pilot. Although this pilot was wounded, he was “safe and sound.”

Trump said that the U.S. military monitored the pilot’s location 24 hours a day and “carefully planned” his rescue. Following his instructions, the U.S. military deployed dozens of “aircraft carrying the world’s deadliest weapons” to carry out the rescue. During the rescue operation, “not a single American died, and no one was even injured.”

Trump also said that the first pilot aboard the downed F-15E fighter jet had been rescued. The reason it had not been confirmed earlier was that they did not want to jeopardize the second rescue operation.

![](https://img-cdn.gateio.im/social/moments-04769487c8-335d03bc7b-8b7abd-badf29) 

Images of wreckage of the downed U.S. F-15E fighter jet previously released by Iran 

However, shortly after Trump announced this, Xinhua News Agency cited Iranian media as saying that an Iranian military spokesperson stated that the U.S. rescue mission “failed,” and that two of its “Black Hawk” helicopters and a C-130 transport plane were shot down.

Iran International (iranintl) said that on April 5, Iran’s military and security departments stated that in southern Iran, near Isfahan, they thwarted an operation by the United States attempting to rescue a stranded pilot, and that multiple “enemy aircraft” were destroyed.

![](https://img-cdn.gateio.im/social/moments-45bd972314-c1f8040fa4-8b7abd-badf29) 

U.S. military C-130 transport aircraft, file photo 

On April 5, The New York Times disclosed some details of the U.S. military’s rescue of the pilots. The report said that two transport aircraft originally intended to transport the assault team and evacuate the pilot experienced malfunctions within Iran and became stuck. The U.S. military then dispatched three new aircraft to evacuate all U.S. personnel and the pilot, and destroyed the two malfunctioning aircraft to prevent them from falling into Iran’s hands.