Iran claims multi-department operation hits rescue of U.S. military aircraft

The Iranian Armed Forces Hatam al-Anbia Central Command said today (April 5) that, in response to actions taken by the United States to rescue the pilots of its shot-down aircraft, Revolutionary Guard fighters and Basij militia carried out a joint operation, and with the cooperation of a special strike team from the law-enforcement command, they hit and destroyed the enemy aircraft in the southern part of Isfahan. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran also said on the same day that, during the U.S. servicemembers’ pilot-rescue mission, Iran’s armed forces carried out a joint operation involving multiple departments to destroy enemy aircraft. At present, this report has not yet been confirmed by the U.S. side. On the same day, according to a report on the website of The New York Times, two U.S. military transport planes “malfunctioned” and became “stuck” while carrying out the pilot-rescue mission in Iran; the U.S. then dispatched three new aircraft to continue the rescue mission and blew up the two malfunctioning transport planes. (CCTV International News)