Looks like the rescue mission in Iran was cover for an operation to seize uranium that ultimately failed

The Trump administration is hailing its latest Iran disaster as a roaring success, but the official story has more holes than a low-budget Hollywood movie, suggesting there is more going on than meets the eye.

We are told that a few days ago, an F-15 was shot down over southwest Iran. The F-15E was hit by Iranian air defences (that we were told had been obliterated) and both crew members safely ejected. The pilot was picked up almost immediately, but the WSO (Weapons Systems Officer) went missing for two days. He heroically used his SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) training to evade Iranian search parties, climb to a 7,000-foot ridgeline, and move through extremely rugged mountain terrain with a sprained ankle and serious injuries!

A massive rescue force was composed of dozens of aircraft, including special-ops troop carriers, helicopters, and A-10 attack jets. Elite units like Army Delta Force and Navy SEAL Team 6 went in at night and got the WSO out.

Two transport planes got stuck at a remote landing strip in southern Isfahan and had to be destroyed so Iran couldn’t capture sensitive technology. The US military sustained no casualties, with only minor injuries being reported, but five Iranians were killed. President Trump announced “WE GOT HIM!” and the Pentagon hailed the mission as a complete success.

However, we have been given no details about the rescued crew—no names, images, videos, or medical updates. While we might get this information at some point, the delay seems weird—normally we would at least get an image or a short statement from the crew.

This leads me to speculate that at least one of them (the WSO) was killed and Trump is trying to turn negative headlines into positive ones. I would not be surprised if there were no rescues, but certainly the second rescue is suspicious.

The story of the WSO travelling a huge distance through rugged terrain (possibly 110 miles) seems implausible, given his injuries and lack of survival equipment. It seems unlikely the US was able to find him before the Iranians, given they had a clear head start and would be familiar with the terrain. Plus, the Iranians were offering a $66,000 bounty and hundreds of people joined the search effort.

The scale of the rescue does not appear to make sense. Combat Search and Rescue Missions are obviously challenging, but surely you want to minimise visibility. The US did not do this—it sent in troop carriers, multiple helicopters, and heavy air support—the type of firepower you would expect for a much larger operation.

The US has admitted to destroying two of its MC-130J transports on the ground, but you could be forgiven for thinking the Iranians shot them down, given they have struck many US aircraft throughout this war. Iran has released footage showing far more destruction than the two transports, suggesting this was a large-scale operation that went horribly wrong.

ABC News has confirmed that four MH-6 Little Bird helicopters were destroyed and two Black Hawk helicopters were damaged but returned to base. Also, an A-10 Warthog was hit and later crashed in Kuwait, but the pilot safely ejected.

The Iranians claim at least one US MQ-9 Reaper drone and one Israeli Hermes-900 drone were destroyed, but as far as I’m aware, the US will not confirm or deny. The Iranians also claim at least five US personnel were killed, explaining:

“As the C-130s approached their landing zone, Iranian police commando units opened heavy fire from multiple directions, immobilising the first transport aircraft before it could unload its personnel. Minutes later, IRGC air defence systems locked onto the second C-130 and the two Black Hawks. One by one, the American aircraft were struck.”

The timing of the mission and location is enough to suggest something more was at play. It took place in the southern Isfahan province—the area where several key nuclear sites are located. It is about 100-150 miles away from the crash site in the adjacent Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in the Zagros Mountains, but only 23 miles from the main Isfahan nuclear facility.

Consider that Trump had been discussing an operation to seize Iran’s uranium and you have to wonder if the rescue mission was all a ruse. I’ve seen claims that Pete Hegseth requested a 48-hour ceasefire for the crew to be rescued, during which the US would attempt to seize the uranium. The generals reportedly told Hegseth his plan wouldn’t work and were fired.

We know the ceasefire request and firings were real, but the other details are hard to verify, yet certainly plausible. While the Iranians rejected the 48-hour ceasefire, it seems the US might have gone ahead with Hegseth’s plan regardless. If so, they could not publicly admit to something so risky that ultimately resulted in failure.

Part of the uranium plan involved building a runway, but the spot the US chose to land just happened to have an abandoned runway, solving one key problem. Suddenly, the location mismatch makes perfect sense—it seems this was never a search and rescue mission.

An operation to grab the nuclear material would likely be massive and require far more than just the equipment and personnel used on this mission, but we don’t know what else was taking place. My assumption is the F-15E was flying a support mission tied to a broader operation at Isfahan when it was shot down. Perhaps the pilot was rescued and the WSO was killed, or perhaps both were killed…

Regardless, the Trump administration is using the “rescues” to deflect from the bigger story: the Isfahan mission was a complete failure and multiple US aircraft were destroyed. Presumably, there were casualties that we have not been told about…

While it is plausible that the MC-130Js were shot down by Iranians, the official claim of malfunction is also plausible. They might have been bogged down by soil issues on the abandoned runway and unable to take off.

Either way, it appears the US lost multiple aircraft—and this is a massive humiliation for Trump. They have tried to dress up these losses by saying it was a worthwhile price to pay to rescue the crew, but we are talking about a country that doesn’t give its people healthcare—they can spare me the pretence about valuing human life.

Obviously, I’m sceptical that a rescue mission was the real goal. I think spec ops teams were sent to gather intelligence on Iranian defences, suppress nearby threats, and/or destroy military infrastructure. While the fog of war means we cannot be confident about what took place, I feel my explanation makes more sense than the official one. What do you think?

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