Iranian officials say their forces destroyed two U.S. C-130 transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters in southern Isfahan province on Sunday. The Pentagon has not confirmed that account, and Iranian state media is the main source for the details below.
According to Press TV, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters spokesperson said joint forces carried out the strike. The headquarters named the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace and ground forces, the regular army, Basij volunteers and police commandos as participants.
What Iran says happened
The Iranian account begins with the downing of a U.S. F-15E on April 3. Press TV said Iran’s air defenses brought it down in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, and that the crew member or members remained missing afterward. It also claimed two Black Hawks were damaged by ground fire during an earlier American extraction attempt that day.
On April 5, at about 09:20 local time, U.S. aircraft began entering Iranian airspace to search for the missing pilot, the report said. It described two C-130 Hercules planes and two UH-60 Black Hawks heading toward an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province. The headquarters spokesperson called the American plan a “deceive and immediate escape mission” and said Iranian intelligence had mapped it in advance.
As the transports came in to land, police commandos opened fire from several directions and immobilized the first C-130 before it could unload, according to the account. Minutes later, Guards air defenses locked onto the second C-130 and the helicopters. Press TV said the first plane was destroyed after being disabled, while the second was hit as it tried to escape.
By 10:20, Iranian media were reporting one C-130 and two Black Hawks destroyed. Later reporting raised the number of C-130s to two. Press TV said it geolocated and verified images of burning wreckage. Local sources also said police commandos shot down a refueling aircraft in the same area.
Iranian military sources put American deaths at no fewer than five. Press TV said some unofficial reports give a higher toll. No U.S. figure was cited.
The Guards’ public relations department issued a statement saying the aircraft “were hit and are now burning in the flames of the wrath of the heroic fighters of Islam.”
Washington’s version
President Donald Trump went on social media after the operation to call it a “daring” and “miraculous” rescue that brought out the missing F-15E pilot with no American losses, Press TV reported. Iranian officials rejected that. The Guards’ intelligence organization pointed out that no photograph or video of the rescued pilot had been shown.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf posted an image of the C-130 wreckage on X. “If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined,” he wrote. The Khatam al-Anbiya spokesperson said Trump was trying to “justify the bitter defeat and failure of his weak army by creating ambiguity in public opinion,” and added that the United States had not reported its full losses in the region for several days.
The Tabas comparison
Iranian officials and social media users quickly compared the episode to Operation Eagle Claw, the failed U.S. rescue attempt of April 1980 that sought to free captives held in Tehran. That mission ended in a remote desert at Tabas, where a collision between a C-130 and an RH-53 helicopter, along with a sandstorm and equipment failures, left eight American servicemen dead and several aircraft abandoned on Iranian soil.
Sources
Sources
- From Tabas to Isfahan: Iran destroys two US C-130s, echoing 1980…
- US' C-130 aircraft downed in Isfahan: Iran – Oman Observer
