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Middle East

  • • Live Updates
    videoframe_4342.png
    • Live Updates
    Reuters
    Live Updates8 mins ago Trump and Iran trade threats over Strait of Hormuz
  • Iranian state media shares images of apparent aircraft wreckage after US rescue operation
From Isaac Yee and Farida Elsebai

Video and images released by Iranian state media and geolocated by CNN appears to show the burnt out wreckage of several aircraft in southern Esfahan province after President Donald Trump said US forces rescued a crew member from a downed fighter jet. 

In the footage, a large field of aircraft debris can be seen still smoldering. Destroyed aircraft parts including what appear to be turboprops engines are also visible. It is not clear what type of aircraft they are or who owns them.

State media claimed Iranian forces shot down the aircraft seen in the images. In a post on Truth Social President Trump, made no mention or aircraft losses, but did say no US service members were injured or killed in the operation. CNN has approached the US military comment.

Iran's military said US forces used an abandoned airstrip to conduct the operation. A CNN analysis of satellite imagery confirmed the presence of a small airstrip around the area where the images were taken.

The images were taken around 50 kilometers from the Iranian city of Esfahan.

CNN was able to geolocate the video and images by matching the mountain range behind the wreckage with satellite imagery.
    Iranian State Media
    Trump threatens Iran with a new deadline: What we know about the war, now in its 6th week
  • Iranian state media shares images of apparent aircraft wreckage after US rescue operation
From Isaac Yee and Farida Elsebai

Video and images released by Iranian state media and geolocated by CNN appears to show the burnt out wreckage of several aircraft in southern Esfahan province after President Donald Trump said US forces rescued a crew member from a downed fighter jet. 

In the footage, a large field of aircraft debris can be seen still smoldering. Destroyed aircraft parts including what appear to be turboprops engines are also visible. It is not clear what type of aircraft they are or who owns them.

State media claimed Iranian forces shot down the aircraft seen in the images. In a post on Truth Social President Trump, made no mention or aircraft losses, but did say no US service members were injured or killed in the operation. CNN has approached the US military comment.

Iran's military said US forces used an abandoned airstrip to conduct the operation. A CNN analysis of satellite imagery confirmed the presence of a small airstrip around the area where the images were taken.

The images were taken around 50 kilometers from the Iranian city of Esfahan.

CNN was able to geolocate the video and images by matching the mountain range behind the wreckage with satellite imagery.
    • Live Updates
    Iranian State Media
    Live Updates8 mins ago Day 37 of Middle East conflict — US forces rescue crew member from F-15 jet shot down over Iran
  • Iranian state media released photos on April 3, of what it claimed is the wreckage of a US Air Force fighter jet downed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The debris is consistent with US Air Force F-15.
    Nour News/Telegram
    What we do — and don’t — know about the operation to rescue the US airman
  • FILE - An F-15E Strike Eagle turns toward the Panamint range over Death Valley National Park, California, on February 27, 2017.
    • Live Updates
    Ben Margot/AP/File
    Live Updates8 mins ago Day 36 of Middle East conflict — US and Iran race to find crew member from downed F-15 jet
  • U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the signing ceremony for an executive order on mail ballots, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2026.  REUTERS/Evan Vucci
    Evan Vucci/Reuters
    Four ways a hasty Trump exit from the Iran war may not end the conflict
  • Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a visit to the shrine of the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in southern Tehran, Iran, on January 31, 2026.
    Aboutaleb Nadri/Iran's Presidential website/WANA/Reuters
    Is Iran war really ‘America First,’ Iranian president asks in letter to US public
  • Residents remove a torched tractor that, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, was torched by Israeli settlers, alongside tents and cars in the West Bank village of Tayasir, near Tubas, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
    Majdi Mohammed/AP
    Israeli settlers build new illegal outpost near West Bank village where soldiers assaulted, detained CNN crew
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  • Iranian Red Crescent workers gather near an apartment hit by an airstrike earlier this morning on March 30, 2026 in the west of Tehran, Iran. The United States and Israel have continued their joint attack on Iran that began on February 28. Iran retaliated by firing waves of missiles and drones at Israel and U.S. allies in the region, while also effectively blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route.
    Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
    What we know on Day 32 of the US and Israel’s war with Iran: Gas prices skyrocket, Kuwaiti tanker hit
  • A bulk carrier sits anchored at a port in Oman earlier this month.
    Elke Scholiers/Getty Images
    Iran has a new demand to end the war – and it could bring in billions
  • In this photo released by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from left, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pose for photo prior to their meeting to discuss the Iran war, in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 29, 2026.
    Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs/AP
    Why the nation trying to broker US-Iran peace talks risks being drawn into the conflict
  • A man walks among the ruins of a commercial-office building affected during military operations in a residential area of Tehran, Iran, on March 29, 2026. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
    Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images
    What we know on Day 31 of the US and Israel’s war with Iran: Trump threatens escalation if no deal reached
  • Christian worshippers mark Palm Sunday, following the cancellation of the traditional Palm Sunday procession at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Jerusalem's Old City.
    Ammar Awad/Reuters
    Israel reverses course after barring Palm Sunday Mass in Jerusalem
  • A member of the Iranian Red Crescent Society stands at Hypercar, an auto service center, amid damages which according to the company's officials were caused by strikes on March 1, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
    Vahid Salemi/AP
    What we know on Day 30 of the war with Iran: Israel prepared for ‘multi-front war’ and more US troops arrive in the region
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  • An Iranian woman walks past a view of Tehran's research reactor in Tehran, Iran, on February 26, 2026, the final day of Iran-U.S. talks that are currently held in the city of Geneva.
    Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images
    Cornered and wounded, will Iran now go for a nuclear bomb?
  • A man stands next to a building destroyed by an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
    Yara Nardi/Reuters
    What we know on Day 29 of the US and Israel’s war with Iran: Houthis enter conflict, US builds up forces
  • Israeli soldiers seen in a Palestinian home.
    Cyril Theophilos/CNN
    Israeli soldiers echo settler ideology, talk of revenge after targeting Palestinians and detaining CNN crew in the West Bank
  • Hezbollah's al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Jezzine with other journalists on Saturday, March 28, 2026, speaks on his mobile phone in Marjayoun town, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
    Hussein Malla/AP/File
    Israel kills 3 journalists in Lebanon, including reporter for Hezbollah-run broadcaster
  • 20260324-iran-feature-card___exlargetease.png
    CNN
    Mines, missiles and miles of coastline: Why Iran has the upper hand in the Strait of Hormuz
  • People stand at a park in view of Milad Tower, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, on March 25, 2026.
    Majid Asgaripour/Wana News Agency/Reuters
    What we know on Day 27 of the US and Israel’s war with Iran: Trump frustrated with Tehran and IRGC navy chief dead
  • Funeral of two paramedics killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday (March 24) according to Lebanese ministry of health.
    • Video 2:28
    Reuters
    Video Lebanese medics in emptied town fear strikes 2:28
  • WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Donald Trump greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025 at the White House in Washington, D.C. Bin Salman was set for a visit and formal dinner at the White House. (Photo by Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
    Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images/File
    Trump’s Gulf allies push to have their concerns addressed before Iran war ends
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