The operation, which was supposed to infiltrate one of the Isfahan nuclear facilities, was trapped by the full vigilance of the Iranian armed forces and turned into an emergency rescue operation by American commandos.
According to evidence, the operation was carried out after several days of intensive aerial reconnaissance and the loss of a number of aircraft, including at least one A-10 and two Black Hawk helicopters.
The landing site for the C-130 transport aircraft was an abandoned airfield near one of the Isfahan nuclear facilities. The main goal was to infiltrate and attack these nuclear facilities, but the Americans’ miscalculations regarding the weakness of Iran’s air defenses caused the country’s special forces to be trapped by the Iranian armed forces.
The Iranian armed forces, including the army and IRGC forces, initially did not react to the landing of the first C-130 aircraft carrying dozens of commandos. The aircraft deviated slightly while landing on the dirt runway. Minutes later, a second C-130 carrying equipment, special vehicles, and MH-6 Littlebird helicopters approached, which were immediately targeted by Iranian forces and made an emergency landing.
At the same moment, two Black Hawk helicopters also entered the area. Realizing that they were trapped, the American special forces were forced to abandon the operation to infiltrate the nuclear site and turn it into an operation to rescue dozens of commandos under fire.
The White House Situation Room ordered an immediate withdrawal. The Americans sent smaller planes to the area to rescue their forces and were barely able to collect the commandos. The withdrawal was so hasty that some soldiers and officers left their personal belongings and identification documents in the area. One of these documents belonged to an American officer who fell into the hands of Iranian forces.
After the withdrawal of American forces, the country's fighter jets created a 5-kilometer radius of fire to prevent Iranian forces and heavily bombed the remaining equipment, including Littlebird helicopters. Many of these helicopters did not even have a chance to fly and were destroyed on the ground or inside the second C-130.
After this shameful failure, Trump immediately held several press conferences to pass it off as a "rescue operation for the downed fighter pilot." However, the propaganda shows of Trump and his Secretary of Defense have faced serious skepticism even within the United States.
Americans are now asking how a country that, according to American officials, lacks an effective air defense and army, was able to shoot down and destroy this volume of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and transport aircraft.
Experts consider this failure to be the worst and most shameful failure of the US military since the Tabas operation in 1970. The consequences of this defeat are expected to have a long-term impact not only on the course of the war, but also on the political future of Trump, his party, and the American political scene.
