Iran has rejected claims by U. S. President Donald Trump that the pilot of an F-15 fighter jet shot down on April 3 had been successfully rescued. Representatives of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described the statement as unreliable, arguing it was meant to mask the failure of a U.S. operation.

According to Iranian military officials, the American special forces mission to evacuate the pilot did not succeed and resulted in casualties. They stressed that Washington had provided no evidence to support the claim of a successful rescue, pointing out that the only basis for it was Trump’s post on the Truth Social platform.

Tehran also reported that its air defense systems had downed multiple U.S. aircraft during the incident. The IRGC stated that in the southern part of Isfahan Province, two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters-referred to as Black Hawk helicopters-and a C-130 military transport plane were hit and subsequently caught fire.

U.S. officials, for their part, have acknowledged the loss of two transport aircraft. However, they maintain that the planes were destroyed by American forces after failing to take off from a temporary airstrip, in order to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands.

Earlier reports in the media suggested that U.S. special forces had managed to evacuate a second crew member of the F-15E from Iran to Kuwait after locating him via an emergency beacon signal.