DUBAI, April 5 (Reuters) – Several aircraft were destroyed in the south of Iran’s Isfahan province during a U.S. mission to find a stranded airman, Iranian military officials said on Sunday.
U.S. officials told Reuters late on Saturday that a second airman whose F-15 jet was downed on Friday in Iran was rescued, a day after the first crew member was recovered.
“Additional investigations by experts on the ground revealed that two C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters of the US army were destroyed by our forces,” the spokesperson of the unified command of Iranian armed forces said.
Separate statements by the Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards said an Israeli Hermes-900 drone as well as a U.S. MQ-9 drone were downed in Isfahan province.
Reuters could not immediately verify the Iranian accounts.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said U.S. search operations were conducted from Saturday evening in three different provinces, namely Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, and Isfahan.
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Christina Fincher)
