Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two US MC-130J transport aircraft lost during an April rescue operation were disabled by Iranian fire rather than stranded in desert sand, IRGC media reported on September 14.

The rebuttal, issued a day after the CBS programme 60 Minutes aired the first public account by one of the two airmen recovered, marks Tehran's most detailed challenge to the American version of the most publicised single operation of the 40-day war.

Neither side disputes that the US lost aircraft on the ground in Isfahan province. What is contested is whether they were destroyed because Iranian forces hit them or because they broke down, a distinction that bears on Iranian claims about the performance of its air defences against a US campaign that had previously been described in Washington as having cleared the way over the area.

The US account, given to CBS by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs chairman General Dan Caine and Central Command head Admiral Brad Cooper, is that an F-15E Strike Eagle with the call sign Dude 44 was brought down by a shoulder-fired missile on April 3, that both crew ejected, and that the aircraft waiting to fly out the recovered weapons systems officer and more than 90 special operators became unusable on the ground, after which US forces destroyed them to keep the technology out of Iranian hands.

The IRGC said the two MC-130Js were detected and intercepted after entering Iranian airspace and were seriously damaged in the engagement, and that several MH-6 Little Bird and support helicopters were also hit or unable to leave.

It described the American explanation as "a Hollywood show for managing American public opinion", Sepah News reported.

The IRGC also listed an A-10, a Black Hawk and several MQ-9 and MQ-1 series drones among US losses in the operation. Washington has acknowledged one A-10 shot down, two MC-130Js and four helicopters destroyed by US forces, and two damaged UH-60 Black Hawks. The US Air Force retired the MQ-1 Predator in 2018.

The Washington Post reported on August 13, citing three US officials, that the US military had lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reapers during the war, about 25% of the fleet, at a cost above $1.3bn.