On the night of 4–5 April, US Special Forces suffered a debacle near Isfahan. Trump claims the operation was a pilot rescue, but that’s false. His meltdowns on 5th and 6th April were a consequence of the failure of some plan. Consensus is that the failed op was to seize Iran’s enriched U–235 at Isfahan.
Note: Please see essay of 8 April, “The Jews of Iran,” which has an update. Included at the end of this essay is a note covering the negotiations in Islamabad last weekend and the blockade of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz!
Map Legend:
Purple Box: US bases in Kuwait
Yellow Circle: April 3 action (coordinates: 30.6594, 50.1232; Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province)
Red Circle: April 4-5 action (coordinates: 32.2583, 51.9019; airstrip near city of Isfahan)
Green Circle: Isfahan nuclear facility (35km north of airstrip)
Fighter Jet Crash
On Friday, 3 April, an American F-15 was downed over Iran. The pilot and weapons officer (WSO) ejected over SW Iran. Combat Search-and-Rescue (CSAR) helicopters were launched from Kuwait. US claims the pilot was rescued (likely) but the WSO was inside Iran (certain). Iranian and American forces rushed to find the WSO. Tehran called on the Lur peoples of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province to track the pilot. A goldsmiths’ guild offered a cash bounty.
CSAR helicopters flying over Iran’s Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province came under small arms fire from Lur tribesmen, who apparently downed two US Blackhawks. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, said, “every single Iranian that owned a small gun or rifle was shooting at us.” It was an exciting day that had me glued to Telegram and Twitter/X.
Over the next 48 hours, both sides hunted the WSO. On Mon., 6 April, Trump announced that he had been rescued in daring operation near Isfahan that included scores of transports, helicopters, and fighter jets (to provide air cover). All this for one WSO? The operation cost ca. $100 million, including the destruction of several USAF aircraft. The US lost about twelve aircraft over the weekend (3–5 April).
Pilot Rescue Story
Trump’s tale is false. The search locale on 3 April is 210km from Kuwait. If CSAR had found the downed WSO, they would fly SW to Kuwait (Purple Box), but not 240km NE to Isfahan (Yellow Circle), deeper into Iran. That would make no sense. The search in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad region and activity in Isfahan are two separate events. I shall return to the WSO stuck in SW Iran shortly.
Isfahan Airstrip
What we know for certain or consider highly-probable. Following activity at the airstrip 34–35km from the Isfahan nuclear facility, two USAF MC–130J Commando aircraft and four “Little Bird” helicopters were destroyed on the ground. DOD only admits to two aircraft having “mishaps” on the airstrip while rescuing the WSO. The Pentagon said other aircraft were flown in to rescue the stranded forces; and the two disabled planes were bombed by USAF to prevent Iran from accessing their on-board technology. It is clear they were “obliterated” by the USAF, but shrapnel and bullet holes on surviving sections indicate the aircraft encountered hostile fire. Moreover, remains of four helicopters have been identified.
The Iranian version is that the incursion was ambushed. But this is probably untrue: ambush implies lying in wait. A realistic scenario is that the intrusion was discovered and Iran’s military responded. The Iranian version by PressTV is here: “US suffered major strategic defeat in failed Isfahan operation.”
A majority of analysts believe that US Special Forces had planned to travel from the airstrip to the nuclear facility (ca. 35km north of the landing site), penetrate the facility, and haul away Iran’s enriched Uranium! The plan is preposterous—for reasons I shall explain in the analysis section.
On 1 April 2026, Washington Post published this story: “Risky commando plan to seize Iran’s uranium came at Trump’s request.” It is assuredly based on leaks from inside the US Army that were intended to thwart Trump from authorizing a hare-brained scheme. The next day, US Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, was forced by “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth to resign “effective immediately.” The buzz is that Gen. George was opposed to the Isfahan plan. He was replaced by a malleable general. A slew of generals and admirals have been forced out by Trump-Hegseth in the past year. Sheep are plentiful at the Pentagon.
The balance of the section on Isfahan relies on photographs and videos. Minimal commentary is included because the truth of what happened in Isfahan is known to few. I will leave it to the reader to judge if the US version (pilot rescue and mishap) or Iranian version (failed raid) fits the visual evidence.
Visual Evidence
Visual Evidence: Update, 15 April 2026
Satellites images by Airbus were published recently. They were taken after the SOF adventure and reflect Iranian security and cleanup activities. Annotations to the two Airbus images are self-explanatory. Note the piles of dirt added to the runway to prevent any further landings by the US, which proves that Iran did not expect the airstrip to be used. This is a major security lapse.
The time lapse video is by satellite company Soar Atlas. The yellow circle is location of aircraft debris.
Analysis
The WSO. He was not rescued. Firstly, an “American hero” who survived “being killed by bloodthirsty” Lur tribesmen or “tortured by the brutal mullah regime” (scare quotes are snark; this is the language of imperialist media), would have been paraded before cameras by the White House, interviewed on TV talk shows, and showered with medals for “valor” and “merit.” Today (14 April) marks ten days of silence from the Pentagon and White House. Secondly, the WSO’s food and water will have run out after 48 hours—around night on Sun., 5 April—which, not coincidentally, is when US fighter activity and bombing was reported in the area of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province where Iranians were hunting the WSO. A day or two later, an Iranian media outlet published a cryptic comment: “Note to American pilots. The GPS you use to identify your location to your rescuers [CSAR] can be used to kill you.” The conclusion is that the Pentagon issued a “Hannibal Directive” to kill the WSO.
The Isfahan Operation. The ambush story does not hold up to scrutiny. Tehran claimed that four officers from the “Air Defense Faculty of the Artillery and Missile Training Center of the Army Ground Forces” had died fighting US Special Forces (SOF). The named are: Brig.-Gen. Masoud Zare, commander of the faculty; Col. Seyed Saeed Mousavi; Lt.-Col. Moein Heydari, and 2LT Milad Salarvand. If this had been an ambush, SOF would have been met by IRGC or Army SOF, not commanders and officers from a training academy. My conclusion: the intrusion was detected, probably by air defense systems; they were nearby, called for reinforcements, and responded. USAF bombed the main road leading to the airstrip to impede reinforcements (see image below). SOF then called for replacement transport aircraft, and fighter jets to keep Iranian reinforcements at bay. SOF were able to retrieve wounded and dead and depart because the Iranians had been surprised. Otherwise, it would have been a slaughter, and images of American KIA, WIA, and POW would have splattered all over the internet.
Isfahan Nuclear Facility. Truly a hare-brained scheme—unless SOF had a scheme in mind that I cannot conceive. Their plan appears to have been to establish an airbase for waves of transport aircraft carrying SOF and equipment. They intended to travel 34–35km by land or by helicopter (see Map 1, above) from the airstrip to the sprawling complex at Isfahan, overpower Iranian SOF protecting the complex; find earth excavators (on location, with fuel and keys); remove earth piled to protect entrances to the tunnels; find their way through the multi-level underground maze and locate the containers of enriched uranium; find forklifts (on location, with gas and keys), haul the booty to the surface, load it aboard trucks (on location with plenty of gas in the tanks and keys in the ignition), and drive back to the airstrip. All this while getting shot at!
IAEA Director Raphael Grossi is suspected by Iran of working with CIA. He needs US support to become the next Secretary-General of the UN. Grossi presumably provided the US with a sketch of the interior, but his sketch would only cover areas that IAEA was permitted to inspect. Grossi said in an interview that about half the Highly-Enriched Uranium (HEU) was at Isfahan, but this information is from before the June 2025 war. Internal CCTV was turned off in June 2025 and IAEA was banned from Iran. There has been activity at the Isfahan complex between 25 June 2025 (first day of the ceasefire after Twelve-Day War) and 27 February 2026 (last day of peace before the Ramadan War).
Iran, according to IAEA, has in total 440.9kg of 60% HEU. However, 440.9kg of 60% HEU does not weigh 440.9kg: the HEU is dissolved inside thousands of kilograms of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF₆). Media tout the simplistic view that the HEU is easily portable, possibly imagining a container that SOF can haul like a treasure chest. Total weight ≤ 14,600kg UF₆ + weight of multiple heavy storage cylinders—certain cylinders weigh 2,300–2,500kg. If, hypothetically, only 50% of Iran’s 440.9kg of 60% HEU is stored at Isfahan, SOF would have to haul ≤ 14,600kg UF₆ ÷ 2 ≤ 7,300kg + weight of cylinders; say, 30,000kg? Hence the imperative for forklifts or cranes; and vehicles and protective equipment for safely transporting the cylinders to the airstrip, loading them on board aircraft and flying out of Iran without a deadly air crash (see PDF by World Nuclear Transport Institute. It has details and images).
Conclusion
Trump is desperate for a win. He probably authorized the Isfahan operation despite the flaws and risks because he needs a “win” that permits him to proclaim victory and leave. He wants a Maduro kidnapping type of glitzy story, replete with imagery of SOF with containers of HEU, and cock-and-bull stories fed to the stenographers at CNN, Fox, New York Times, etc. Trump wants to brag: “We won. We beat Iran,” and exit a war he regrets starting. When this did not happen, he had his first meltdown (Sun., 5 April), when he swore on social media. See “Vaporizing 47 Years of Anti-Iran Propaganda.” The next day, Mon., 6 April, Trump published his genocidal tweet. See “Iran War: A Dangerous Moment.”
Note on Negotiations
US sent three clowns—Vance, Witkoff, and Kushner—to Islamabad. Iran sent Abbas Araghchi and M.B. Qalibaf, their senior deputies, and large teams of experts in law, finance, nuclear science, military affairs, etc. Iranians had draft agreements available for discussion. The US had nothing.
Vance had no authority to deal: he called Netanyahu and Trump twelve times in twenty-one hours. Vance was not in Islamabad to negotiate; he came there to demand. The cartoon, surprisingly for the rabidly pro-Israel rag, The Times (London), encapsulates the talks in Islamabad.
Tehran would have taken a favorable deal at Islamabdad but is well-positioned to reject any bad deal. Iran has achieved strategic victory. If US and Israel want fresh beatings, Iran is happy to deliver. The blockade of the blockade is idiotic (classic Trump). If the US Navy wants a confrontation, Iran will oblige.
The writing on the drone explains the Iranian stance: “I, Shahed-136, on behalf of the noble people of Iran, am heading to Tel Aviv for negotiations.” The music is a celebrated composition, “Khorramshahr,” commemorating the 1982 battle in the Iran-Iraq War.