Donald Trump announced this Sunday the dramatic withdrawal of a pilot whose fighter jet crashed in the country, but Tehran said the operation ‘was frustrated’
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Sunday the dramatic rescue of a pilot whose fighter jet crashed in Iran, but Tehran said the operation “was foiled.”
Amid conflicting versionscharacteristics of a war, and a flood of misleading or false images published on social media, below is what is known so far, according to official statements and information published by the press:
Who is the pilot?
Little is known about his identitybut this is the weapons systems operator who sat behind the pilot of an advanced F-15E fighter jet shot down last Friday.
According to Trump, the pilot was rescued by special forces on a daytime mission shortly after the accident, which occurred in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, southwestern Iran.
O pilot managed to eject himself injured and climbed a peak of around 2,100 metersbefore hiding in a crevice, according to The New York Times and Axios.
American pilots undergo Sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) training in case they have to land in hostile territory. Their uniforms are equipped with a radio/GPS to transmit their position, a communication device, water, food, first aid supplies and a pistol.
Trump published today that the pilot was. According to the CBS News channel, he was transferred to Kuwait.
How was the rescue mission?
Iranian authorities called on the local population and tribes to join the security forces in the search for the pilot, aware of the political and military value of capturing him alive.
A race to that end began this weekend, with images published on social networks that showed American planes and helicopters flying over Iran at low altitude.
The American intelligence agency (CIA) played a key role in locating the pilot, and launched a “disinformation campaign” to make Iran believe that he had already been found, according to The New York Times and Financial Times.
The operation to remove the military from the region was launched in the early hours of today and involved dozens of aircraft, according to Trump. Hundreds of special operations personnel also participated, reported the American press.
Marine commandos, known for their role in the 2011 operation to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, were tasked with removing the pilot while American strike planes provided cover, described The New York Times, which cited unidentified officials.
O pilot was rescued when Iranian forces arrived at the scene. American troops opened fire to drive them away, according to reports.
What does Iran say?
Although they did not present a complete version of the facts.
The Isna agency published last night a photo released by the Revolutionary Guard that supposedly shows “the skull of an American soldier among the wreckage of a destroyed plane“. The Guard did not provide details, but stated that it was proof of what it called the “humiliating defeat of the lying Trump”.
Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari told state media that U.S. forcess had used an abandoned airport in Isfahan provincenorthwest of the area where the pilot ejected, and stated that it was a “disguise and escape mission under the pretext of rescuing the pilot of a downed aircraft.”
Iranian state vehicles released images of the charred wreckageof what appears to be a plane in a desert area, while officials said two C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters had been destroyed. According to geolocation experts, the images were recorded around 50 km from the city of Isfahan.
Citing employees whose identity was not revealed, The Wall Street Journal and other outlets in the United States reported that American forces had blown up two C-130s to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, and that other planes had been sent with the aim of taking rescue teams to safety.
The governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad told the Mehr agency that five people were killed and seven were injured in the mountainous region of Kuh-e Siah, but denied that American forces had landed there. Iraj Kazemijou stated that the information in this regard is “totally false”.
Trump ttoday also mentioned an operation in Iran to rescue “another brave pilot”but did not provide details, so as not to “put at risk” the rescue operation.
*AFP
