Airman's rescue operation US cover to steal enriched uranium: Iran

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday said a US operation to rescue a downed airman may have been a cover to “steal enriched uranium” and added the attempt led to a ‘humiliating defeat’ for the US.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump said the US recovered a second crew member of an F-15E jet that went down over Iran on Friday in what he called a “daring” search and rescue operation. Iran’s military has called it “a deception and escape mission,” insisting it was “completely foiled”.

On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said there were “many questions and uncertainties” about the operation. “The area where the American pilot was claimed to be present in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province is a long way from the area where they attempted to land or wanted to land their forces in central Iran,” he said.

“The possibility that this was a deception operation to steal enriched uranium should not be ignored at all.” He added that the operation was “a disaster” for the US. Iran’s military said several US aircraft had to “make emergency landings” in southern Isfahan province after being hit during the mission, with the US “forced to heavily bombard the downed aircraft” as a result. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it downed 11 US planes in the firefight that ensued during the “rescue mission”. The Iranian Fars News Agency, which is close to the IRGC reported that the US lost 11 planes in the ‘mission’ — two C-130 aircraft; four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters; one A-10 “Warthog” attack aircraft; two “Little Bird” helicopters and two MQ-9 “Reaper” drones.