US destroys own warplanes during pilot rescue op, Iran shares pic of wreckage

A US official told the Wall Street Journal that the two MC-130J transport planes appeared to have gotten stuck during the rescue op. They were destroyed by US forces to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands.

A US Air Force officer whose fighter jet was shot down in Iran was successfully rescued in an audacious night-time mission. While President Donald Trump bragged that there was no loss of life during the op, it wasn’t, however, without sacrifices. US forces had to reportedly blow up their own aircraft while retreating.

According to a US official who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, two MC-130J transport planes, used for covert infiltration and extraction behind enemy lines, were involved in the operation. The aircraft appeared to have become stuck during the mission, without going into how this happened.

It became necessary to destroy the two planes to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, the official said.

Mocking Washington, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf shared a photo on X of the smouldering remains of the destroyed warplanes. "If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined," he wrote.

The rescued officer was the second of two crew members aboard an F-15E fighter jet that Iran said it had brought down with its air defences on Friday.

Reuters reported that the first crew member had already been retrieved, while both Iran and the US launched a frantic search for the remaining airman.