Declassified footage reveals US troops operated deep inside Iran during April mission to recover downed airmen

Newly declassified footage has revealed US troops operating deep inside Iran during an April mission to recover two American airmen whose F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down near Isfahan.

More than 90 US service members ultimately deployed on the ground, while several hundred personnel were in the air and several thousand supported the operation, CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper told CBS’ 60 Minutes. He described them as the first acknowledged US “boots on the ground” in Iran in 46 years.

The two-seat F-15E, valued by CBS at about $30 million, was brought down on April 3 by an Iranian shoulder-fired missile costing roughly $100,000 while carrying out a strike on facilities linked to Tehran’s missile and drone programs south of Isfahan. Its crew, identified only by their mission call signs “Alpha” and “Bravo,” ejected and landed about five miles apart.

Alpha, the pilot, was recovered several hours later after the US sent 21 aircraft into Iran. American helicopters came under fire during the extraction, and one was hit by small-arms fire, wounding crew members. An A-10 involved in the search was also hit, forcing its pilot to eject after leaving Iranian airspace.

Bravo, the weapons systems officer, remained in Iran for roughly two days after suffering a broken back, arm and shoulder during his ejection. Iranian forces were searching for him as Washington mounted a much larger second extraction effort.

Newly released infrared footage shows US aircraft striking IRGC forces near Bravo’s position before two large special-operations transports landed on a makeshift strip inside Iran. MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopters were then deployed to retrieve him from mountainous terrain.

Another declassified clip shows two US Air Force pararescuers on the ground inside Iran approaching the wounded Bravo, grabbing him and taking him to an American helicopter.

The operations involved an extraordinary amount of firepower. US forces fired or dropped 339 munitions inside Iran – 123 during the effort to recover Alpha and another 216 during the mission to extract Bravo, according to CBS. The Pentagon ultimately surged more than 150 aircraft for the second rescue alone, including 64 fighters, four bombers, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft and 26 intelligence and electronic-warfare planes.

The extraction then ran into further trouble when two MC-130J Commando II transports reportedly became stuck in soft ground and could not take off. CBS said US forces themselves destroyed both aircraft, valued at roughly $100 million each, along with the Little Bird helicopters, to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands. Three additional aircraft had to be sent into Iran to evacuate the stranded force.

The newly declassified material provides the clearest official account yet of the scale of Washington’s April incursion, which had drawn comparisons with the failed 1980 Operation Eagle Claw, when a US attempt to rescue US Embassy hostages in Iran ended after mechanical failures and an aircraft collision killed eight US servicemen.