Iran Suspects US F-15 Pilot Rescue Operation as Cover for Stealing Enriched Uranium
Iran suspects the United States’ military operation to rescue a fighter jet pilot whose F-15E crashed in the country was a cover for “stealing enriched uranium” from Tehran.
Previously, US President Donald Trump, on Sunday (5 April), stated that the US had rescued two F-15E fighter jet pilots who crashed in Iranian territory on Friday (3 April) the previous week. Trump described it as the “most daring search and rescue operation in US history”.
The Iranian military, in its statement, called the US mission a “deceptive and escape mission” and insisted that the operation had been “completely foiled”.
Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, as quoted by AFP on Tuesday (7 April 2026), said there were “many questions and uncertainties” about the US military operation in Iranian territory.
“The area where the American pilots are claimed to be in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province is very far from the area where they attempted to land or wanted to land their troops in central Iran,” Baghaei said in a statement on Monday (6 April).
“The possibility that this is a trick operation to steal enriched uranium cannot be ignored at all,” he emphasised.
Baghaei added that the military operation was a “disaster” for the US.
The Iranian military stated that several US military aircraft were forced to “make emergency landings” in southern Isfahan Province after being hit by gunfire during the rescue mission, and the US was “forced to bomb the downed aircraft” as a result.
Baghaei claimed that two US military transport aircraft of the C-130 type and two Black Hawk helicopters had been destroyed by Iran during the rescue mission.
Previously, Trump revealed that he had ordered the US military to send “dozens of aircraft, armed with the world’s deadliest weapons, to pick up” the fighter jet pilots.
A report from the leading US media outlet, the New York Times (NYT), citing an unnamed Washington official, stated that Navy SEAL Team 6 Command was tasked with evacuating the US pilots.
The NYT mentioned that two US military aircraft, which were supposed to transport the pilots and rescue team to a safe location, were stuck at a remote base in Iran and were forced to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into Tehran’s hands.
US forces then used three other transport aircraft to evacuate the pilots and rescue team out of Iran.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also launched a fake operation to spread news in Iran about US forces evacuating the pilots out of Iran via land routes.