Tehran: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran declared on Sunday that it successfully downed a US aircraft engaged in rescuing a missing F-15 crew member, further inflaming tensions in the West Asia flashpoint.
Fars news agency, quoting IRGC sources, published an image of smoke plumes over a field to back the assertion, Al Jazeera reported. This comes swiftly after US President Donald Trump announced the triumphant recovery of the second F-15 crewman lost when Iran struck the jet in ongoing regional hostilities, as published by The Economic Times.
On Truth Social, Trump portrayed the mission as “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History,” spotlighting the rescued colonel as a “brave Warrior” who endured pursuit “behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran.” Despite injuries, Trump said, “We got him! … He will be just fine.”
He detailed deploying “dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World,” at his orders, following attacks by local Iranian groups on two Black Hawk helicopters. Trump highlighted a prior, discreet rescue of another pilot to protect this one: “This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot yesterday … We will never leave an American warfighter behind!”
Parallel US and Iranian search efforts unfolded amid the crisis, with CNN reporting gunfire from Iranian tribesmen on American helicopters. The incidents prompted Washington’s aggressive aerial push into Iranian airspace.
Neither side has released visuals of the rescued colonel or confirmed casualties from the alleged US aircraft loss. The White House and Pentagon offered no immediate response to the IRGC statement.
