Viral video claims Iranian soldier fired at aircraft during risky US rescue mission over skies of Isfahan; watch

US-Iran War: A video circulating on social media and shared by Al Jazeera purports to show an Iranian soldier firing at an aircraft in the skies over Isfahan province during a high-risk US mission to rescue a downed airman.

The footage has not been independently verified, but it surfaces amid reports of a complex American rescue operation launched after a fighter jet was shot down in Iran. The United States undertook the high-risk mission to recover a two-man crew downed deep inside the country, an operation detailed on Monday (April 6, 2026) by Donald Trump and his top defense aides.

For search and rescue efforts, Washington relied on dozens of aircraft, hundreds of personnel, secret CIA technology, and a dose of subterfuge, as reported by news agency AP.





US forces rescued the pilot within hours of the F-15E Strike Eagle going down late on Thursday (April 2, 2026), sending helicopters, midair refuelers, and fighter aircraft deep into Iran after confirming his location, Trump was quoted as saying by AP in a valedictory news conference at the White House, describing the military operation in an unusual level of detail.

The second aviator aboard the aircraft, the weapons systems officer, was rescued nearly two days later. Trump boasted of the military resources surge and coordination across U.S. agencies to pull off the daring mission to recover the troops in enemy territory, describing the shootdown of the jet by Iran as “a lucky hit” after claiming in a national address last week to have “beaten and completely decimated Iran.”

Another jet is downed in the rescue for the F-15 pilot. The search and rescue operation began in daylight over Iran, with helicopters and other aircraft flying low for seven hours, “at times facing very, very heavy enemy fire,” Trump said.

An A-10 Warthog, which was the attack aircraft primarily responsible for keeping in contact with the downed F-15 pilot on the ground, was hit by enemy fire while engaging Iranian forces, said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as reported by AP.

The A-10 was “not landable,” Caine told reporters, but the pilot continued fighting before flying to a friendly country and ejecting. He was quickly rescued and is doing fine. After rescuing the F-15 pilot, HH-60 Jolly Green II helicopters were “engaged by every single person in Iran who had a small-arms weapon, and one of the aircraft, the trailing aircraft, took several hits,” he said. The crew members received minor injuries and were going to be OK, Caine said.

The rescue of the fighter jet pilot, who was flying under the call sign Dude-44 Alpha, occurred before the Iranians could marshal a comprehensive search of their own, but finding and bringing home the weapon systems officer was an even more complicated endeavor.

The weapon systems officer, who rode in the backseat of the F-15 under the call sign Dude-44 Bravo, was injured but followed his training to get as far from the crash site as possible. The second airman climbs into the mountains to hide out.