Tehran: Aircraft used by the United States during a rescue mission in Iran and later destroyed each cost more than $100 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US military data.

According to TRTworld.com, MC-130J aircraft were deployed in an operation to recover crew members of a downed F-15E fighter jet, including a second crewman who was successfully rescued. The MC-130J is designed by the US Air Force Special Operations Command to insert and extract troops in hostile environments and can be refueled midair. It is also equipped with advanced defensive systems, including sensors to counter air-defense threats such as heat-seeking missiles.

An American official stated that the US destroyed two of its MC-130J aircraft during the rescue mission, without providing details on how the planes were lost, as per the report. Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed in a statement released that its forces had destroyed 'enemy flying objects' that entered central parts of the country during what it described as a failed rescue attempt. Images circulated by Iranian officials appeared to show the wreckage of at least one aircraft.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf remarked in a social media post: 'If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined.' Iranian officials also claimed that additional aircraft, including helicopters and a transport plane, were destroyed during the US rescue operation, though these claims have not been independently verified.

US special operations forces rescued the second crew member on Saturday of an F-15 fighter jet downed above Iran. The rescue capped a tense 36-hour operation in southwest Iran, where US forces and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were reportedly trying to reach the missing American officer.