TEHRAN — The spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday ridiculed the American media narrative surrounding the purported rescue of a downed U.S. pilot in Iran, calling it a fabricated “Hollywood” production designed to mask battlefield failures, as criticism and disbelief over the operation mounted inside the United States itself.
Brigadier General Hussein Mohebbi said the United States has a habit of presenting cinematic stories to compensate for its defeats.
“America has a habit of presenting Hollywood-style narratives,” Mohebbi said, according to the IRGC’s official news outlet. “Since the beginning of the war, the U.S. president has repeatedly won in his imagination and on social media and defeated Iran.”
“Americans, to compensate for their defeats, put together parts of films related to other areas and incidents to create such scenes,” he added.
Mohebbi pointed to images published concurrently showing the wreckage of a targeted F-15 fighter jet being collected and transported in a wheelbarrow, saying: “The U.S. should know that such narrative-building has become outdated and cannot change the realities on the battlefield.”
The IRGC’s remarks followed a highly hyped CBS “60 Minutes” segment on Sunday featuring an F-15 weapons systems officer identified only as “Bravo,” who described being rescued after his aircraft was shot down over Iran in April.
The broadcast was framed as a dramatic survival story, complete with footage of special forces, mountainous terrain, and a wounded pilot.
But the segment has sparked a wave of criticism and disbelief in the United States, where many viewers and commentators have described it as a cheap public relations stunt by war secretary Pete Hegseth to manufacture a victory narrative for an increasingly unpopular war.
CNN reported exclusively that
Hegseth and political appointees in his department aggressively pushed for the two crew members to participate in the interview, with one airman initially expressing concerns about being potentially ordered to take part.
Viewers took to social media to mock the segment. One user wrote: “Pathetic 60 Minutes, you tried so hard to make Pete Hegseth look like a brave heroic leader. It looks like a total propaganda piece. I wonder if the rescued soldier is real or just an actor.”
Another commented: “The Bari/Bilton 60 Minutes begins with pure Hegseth propaganda and lotsa God. Welcome to North Korea.” A third noted the cinematic quality of the production, saying: “Hollywood writers taking notes for the movie adaptation already.”
Polling data underscores the political pressure driving the narrative. A Quinnipiac University poll found that 60 percent of Americans said the military action against Iran is not worth the cost, with only 34 percent holding the opposite view.
More strikingly, 45 percent believed America has become weaker in the world as a result of the war, while only 33 percent considered it stronger. A CBS and YouGov poll presented a similar picture: 69 percent of Americans said the war is not worth its costs, and 57 percent believed it has created more problems than it solved.
The controversy centers on the downing of an F-15E Strike Eagle on April 3, following the U.S.-Israel military aggression launched on February 28.
Iran’s air defense networks intercepted the advanced warplane, delivering what analysts described as a significant blow to the Pentagon’s long-promoted myth of aerial supremacy.
Both crew members allegedly ejected; the pilot was allegedly extracted within hours, but the weapons systems officer remained stranded for over 36 hours as U.S. forces mounted a high-risk rescue operation.
According to Iranian accounts, the rescue mission itself nearly became a debacle. Two U.S. transport aircraft dispatched to extract the airman became immobilized at a remote airstrip, and U.S. forces were forced to destroy their own stranded aircraft to prevent sensitive technology from falling into Iranian hands.
The Sepah News said that two MC-130J special operations aircraft were detected and intercepted after entering deep into Iranian territory and were totally destroyed, along with several MH-6 Little Bird helicopters and an A-10 fighter jet.
General Mohebbi’s dismissal echoes a broader Iranian narrative that the entire rescue story is a diversion from the reality of American strategic failure.
“America entered the war to force Iran to accept Washington’s demands and achieve a quick and decisive victory,” one analysis noted.
“But now, one of the most important media narratives presented to the American public is not about the realization of the war’s political objectives, but about the rescue of a pilot whose fighter jet was downed during this very war.”