No Man Left Behind
The US rescue operation that showed how diminished Iran’s military has become.
After a US F-15E was shot down over Iran at the end of the week, an extensive CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue) operation was initiated to locate and extract the pilot and WSO (Weapons Systems Operator) who had ejected from the aircraft.
The US government quickly knew the exact location of the crew. As the Iranians did not, the US held an advantage in getting to them first. If the Iranians had known of the precise location, extraction would likely have been far more complicated.
It appears that the US made a significant attempt to mislead the Iranians as to the location of the WSO. The CIA reportedly carried out a misinformation campaign regarding the location of the airman and the planned route of his extraction. This included spreading information that the rescue phase had already begun and the airman was on the move.
There are reports that clashes occurred close to the city of Dehdasht in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province that resulted in the deaths of 5 Iranian fighters. It is unclear whether this was part of the deception or actually part of this or a separate mission.
Iran, as well as many analysts, was apparently under the impression that the stranded WSO was located in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. This was initially the suspected crash site of the F-15E, and several videos were geolocated of American CSAR flights over the area. These may have been transiting the airspace en route to the actual location, though it is more likely that this was a part of a decoy operation.
The actual crash site was located south of the city of Isfahan, as shown in the geolocation by @obretix below.
