Exiled prince to receive Freedom Prize on behalf of Iranians

The operation, detailed by CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, involved two separate rescue missions after an F-15E was brought down by an Iranian shoulder-fired missile near Isfahan, forcing its two-man crew to eject.

“With this video, maybe the Revolutionary Guards can finally figure out where the pilot was,” one Iranian wrote sarcastically on X after footage and details of the operation were released.

Another user addressed supporters of the Islamic Republic after learning of the scale of the US deployment.

“More than 90 American personnel entered Iranian territory to rescue him,” the user wrote. “Come and tell us we’re a regional power.”

The reactions followed the first extensive public account of the operation, which US commanders described as one of the most complex combat search-and-rescue missions undertaken by the American military.

Two airmen down inside Iran

The F-15E was flying a mission near a mountainous area south of Isfahan on April 2 when it was struck by an Iranian shoulder-fired missile, according to the US account.

The aircraft had been assigned to strike industrial facilities connected to Iran’s drone and missile programs, US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper told 60 Minutes.

The two crew members, identified for security reasons by the call signs Alpha and Bravo, ejected after determining that they could not save the aircraft.

Alpha landed safely, but Bravo’s parachute was damaged. Bravo estimated that he hit the ground at between 70 and 100 miles per hour, breaking his back, an arm and a shoulder.

The two men landed about five miles apart.

Iranian media published images of the wreckage, while videos circulating online showed armed men searching the area for the airmen. Iranian forces at one point came within several hundred meters of Bravo, according to US military sources cited by CBS.

American forces recovered Alpha about six hours after the aircraft went down in a daytime operation during which US helicopters came under fire.

The first rescue force could not locate Bravo and withdrew.

Bravo, despite his injuries, moved away from his landing site and climbed toward a roughly 7,000-foot ridgeline, where he remained hidden as Iranian forces searched for him.

“Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV,” Bravo told 60 Minutes, describing what drove him to keep moving despite his injuries.

More than 90 US troops enter Iran

Bravo remained inside Iran for roughly two days with little food or water before the United States launched another operation to retrieve him.

The CIA played a central role in the second rescue, using a deception campaign to confuse Iranian forces searching for the airman and classified technology to locate him, according to the CBS account.

US bombers and drones then struck Revolutionary Guard forces near the area where Bravo was hiding to clear the way for the rescue force.

More than 90 US service members entered Iran on the ground during the operation, the first American troops to do so in 46 years, Cooper said.

Several hundred personnel were involved in the air and several thousand others supported the operation, according to the US account.

The rescue force arrived aboard two large search-and-rescue aircraft that landed on a makeshift desert airstrip inside Iran. Smaller Little Bird helicopters were then launched to reach Bravo several miles away on the ridgeline.

Bravo was recovered around 50 hours after being shot down.

But the US personnel encountered another problem before they could leave. The landing gear of the two larger aircraft became stuck in the desert sand, leaving more than 90 US troops stranded on the ground.

A clandestine US Air Force unit was brought in to extract them. American forces destroyed the two stranded aircraft, each worth about $100 million, along with the Little Bird helicopters to prevent the technology from falling into Iranian hands, according to CBS.

Iranians mock security failure

The disclosure that such a large American force had operated on Iranian territory without the airmen being captured prompted a stream of sarcastic reactions from Iranian social-media users.

One user mocked Iranian authorities for apparently failing to detect the scale of the rescue operation.

“To rescue the second F-15 pilot who crashed in Iran, two C-17 aircraft landed in Iran and around 100 military personnel disembarked,” the user wrote. “The sacred system didn’t even realize where they were, when they arrived or when they left.”

Another joked that Revolutionary Guard personnel were still searching the mountains for the American airman.

“In the Islamic Republic’s legends, the clerics and their friends, wearing plastic slippers and carrying chips and yogurt, are still searching the mountains for the American pilot,” the user wrote.

Other reactions contrasted the US military’s ability to locate and extract its injured airmen inside Iran with the hours-long search for the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior officials after it crashed in mountainous terrain in May 2024.

“Did you see the documentary about the rescue of the American pilots?” one user wrote, mocking the search for Raisi’s helicopter.

Iran sought international assistance after its own teams struggled to locate the wreckage in heavy fog and difficult terrain. Turkey dispatched an Akinci drone, which detected a suspected heat source and relayed coordinates to Iranian authorities before rescue teams reached the wreckage, where Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others were found dead.

Iran’s armed forces later disputed the extent of the Turkish drone’s role, saying its coordinates were several kilometers off and that Iranian teams ultimately located the crash site.

Another reaction distilled the operation into a more direct criticism of the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities.

“They came right into Iran, picked up their pilot and took him away,” the user wrote.

Bread prices in the Iranian capital have risen sharply without official authorization, putting even bread and cheese beyond the means of some workers, labor-focused ILNA news agency reported.

“Things are very bad with bread, and the unofficial increase in bread prices has become staggering. There was a time when a worker could at least count on bread and cheese, but today they can no longer afford even that,” Ali Torkashvand, executive secretary of the Workers’ House, told ILNA.

The pressure comes as Iran’s official minimum wage stands at about 166.3 million rials per month, equivalent to roughly $72 at the open-market exchange rate.

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Messages sent separately to Iran International describe sharp increases across basic food and household purchases. One citizen said several kilograms of vegetables had cost 25 million rials, equivalent to about 15% of the monthly minimum wage.

“Damn the Islamic Republic for making people suffer this much. We really can’t afford to buy anything anymore,” the citizen said.

A packet of meat-flavored instant noodles cost 900,000 rials, another citizen said.

“I bought a few food and hygiene products and it came to 20 million rials,” another citizen told Iran International, a sum equivalent to about 12% of the monthly minimum wage.

Bread moves beyond reach

ILNA linked the rising cost of essentials to repeated currency depreciation and increases in energy prices, saying shocks to fuel and foreign-exchange costs feed through to food, medicine, housing and other necessities.

Wages and pension payments had failed to keep pace with rising prices, leaving workers struggling to meet basic household expenses, Torkashvand said.

The latest pressure follows the government’s decision to double Iran’s third-tier gasoline price to 100,000 rials per liter from September 8.

Higher gasoline prices could drive up the cost of other goods and services through increased transportation and production expenses, Torkashvand said.

Iran’s economy has come under mounting pressure from international sanctions and restrictions on trade and finance, the economic fallout from war and US efforts to block Iranian oil exports and other revenue streams, alongside declining investment and domestic economic mismanagement.

Workers were struggling with rising prices even before the latest gasoline increase, Ali Zamiri, a labor activist, told ILNA.

“Under the present circumstances, there is no longer any clear order or pattern to prices, while workers’ incomes have not changed in line with these rising costs,” Zamiri said.

Food prices outpace wages

Prices for some staples have risen far faster than overall inflation, with rice increasing by more than 200% and cooking oil by more than 300%, Majid Rahmati, a member of Tehran province’s Islamic Labor Councils board, told ILNA.

Rahmati called for increased food subsidies and higher wages and benefits during the second half of the Iranian year to offset some of the loss in purchasing power.

• 

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The strain has also forced some families to seek credit for basic food. ILNA reported on Sunday that people in poorer areas of Tehran were asking neighborhood stores to let them buy groceries, meat, prepared meals and even bread on credit.

Shopkeepers themselves were finding it increasingly difficult to continue extending credit as their own costs rose, according to ILNA.

The postponement came as Washington and Tehran hardened their positions over what any future negotiations should cover. The Trump administration wants talks with Iran focused on Tehran’s nuclear program rather than reopening the Strait of Hormuz, CNN reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

Iran, meanwhile, has signaled that it would consider nuclear negotiations only after the dispute over the strait is resolved, including the lifting of the US naval blockade.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the meeting planned for Monday in Salalah had been postponed “in the interests of consensus.” Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Fars News later reported that Tehran and Muscat had jointly agreed to the delay at the request of some regional countries.

Saudi Arabia had submitted amendments to the Omani-Iranian proposal over concerns that its wording could establish a new status quo in the strait unacceptable to Riyadh and other GCC states, Axios reported Sunday, citing a senior regional official.

The disagreements have emerged despite a flurry of regional diplomacy. Qatar’s prime minister and Oman’s foreign minister discussed efforts toward a solution guaranteeing freedom of maritime navigation, while the foreign ministers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia also discussed ensuring the safety and freedom of shipping through Hormuz.

US blockade remains in force

The United States has continued to tighten its maritime pressure on Iran even as regional states search for a diplomatic arrangement.

US Central Command said Sunday that American forces had redirected 101 commercial vessels to ensure compliance with the blockade against Iran, up from 100 a day earlier.

US officials told CNN they believe American forces currently have the military upper hand in the strait, but questions remain over how long Washington can sustain the large-scale escort and naval operation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said an agreement with Oman on shipping arrangements would not itself reopen the strait, insisting that reopening depends on Washington meeting Tehran’s demands.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said Sunday that Iran “wants to make a deal so badly” and suggested the war could end before or shortly after the US midterm elections.

Vessel strike adds to Hormuz risks

Security risks around the strait also intensified on Sunday after an Iranian commercial container ship was struck by an unidentified projectile near Hengam Island, off Qeshm.

Iranian authorities said one crew member was killed and four others wounded. UK Maritime Trade Operations separately reported a vessel struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, followed by a fire and crew evacuation, though it was not officially confirmed that the two reports concerned the same vessel.

Several explosions of unknown origin were also reported later Sunday in Sirik, in southern Hormozgan province, according to Iranian state media.

Saudi oil route under pressure

The pressure on Hormuz has become more acute for Saudi Arabia after drone attacks forced it to shut its East-West oil pipeline, a critical route carrying crude from the kingdom’s eastern oilfields to the Red Sea.

The pipeline had been transporting around 4 million barrels per day and allowed Riyadh to bypass the disruption in Hormuz. Reuters reported that stocks at the Red Sea port of Yanbu may be sufficient to sustain exports for only five to seven days if the pipeline remains shut, after which as much as 4% of global oil supply could be at risk.

Oil prices rose sharply as markets reopened, with Brent climbing above $108 a barrel after fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia and shipping in the Persian Gulf.

The Iraqi government has meanwhile stepped up security measures after Saudi Arabia said drones used in the pipeline attack were launched from Iraqi territory. Baghdad has begun reopening several border crossings with Iran after temporary closures and security reviews, with commercial traffic through Shalamcheh expected to resume Monday.

Houthis tighten pressure at Bab el-Mandeb

Saudi Arabia is also facing growing pressure on its western flank as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis expand their position around Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow waterway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthi advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast has raised fears that Saudi oil exports diverted away from Hormuz could face disruption at a second chokepoint. The US Navy has remained on high alert as the Houthis move closer to Bab el-Mandeb.

The Houthis said Sunday that four commanders of Saudi-backed Yemeni forces were killed and five others wounded in operations near Bab al-Mandab, according to the group-run Saba news agency.

The combination of pressure at Hormuz, attacks on Saudi infrastructure and Houthi gains near Bab el-Mandeb is narrowing the region’s alternatives at a time when diplomatic efforts remain divided over the terms of any maritime settlement.

With the Oman meeting now postponed and Washington and Tehran publicly at odds over the agenda for negotiations, there is no clear timetable for a diplomatic breakthrough even as the economic and military costs of the conflict continue to rise.

No foreign investment has been made so far in the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, Tahmoures Lahouti, Deputy Industry Minister and head of Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization, told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA).

“Given the sanctions and restrictions in place, foreign investment is not taking place,” Lahouti said.

Domestic investment in industrial development has also declined compared with last year, with exchange-rate volatility, inflation and weakening household purchasing power weighing on businesses, Lahouti added.

The Iranian year began about three weeks after Israel and the United States launched military operations against the Islamic Republic on February 28.

Lahouti did not provide figures for the decline in domestic investment or specify whether his assessment of foreign investment covered all sectors of the Iranian economy.

The rial has lost roughly 60% of its value against the US dollar since the beginning of the Iranian year, increasing the cost of imported equipment and other inputs for businesses. High inflation and uncertainty over future prices have further complicated long-term investment decisions.

Industrial employment declines

The deterioration in investment has coincided with significant job losses in industry.

About 630,000 industrial jobs were lost in the first quarter of the current Iranian year compared with the same period a year earlier, according to figures from Iran’s Statistical Center.

Separate labor-market data have also shown a sharp decline in the number of workers making social-security contributions.

The contraction adds to longer-running problems facing Iranian manufacturers, including sanctions, restrictions on international banking, inflation, currency depreciation and recurring energy shortages.

Foreign investment falls as capital outflows surge

Data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)shows that Iran was already struggling to attract foreign direct investment well before the war.

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In 2016 and 2017, following the implementation of the nuclear deal and the temporary easing of international restrictions, Iran attracted an average of about $4.2 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) annually. After the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions in 2018, the trend reversed, with annual FDI subsequently falling to around $1.5 billion.

At the same time, Central Bank data point to a sharp increase in capital outflows. Iran’s capital-account deficit widened from $6.77 billion in 2017 to $19.62 billion in 2025, nearly tripling over the period.

Overall, Iran attracted about $12.7 billion in foreign direct investment between 2018 and the end of 2025, while cumulative capital-account deficits approached $120 billion over the same period.

The gap illustrates that Iran’s problem extends beyond its difficulty attracting foreign capital. The country is also recording substantial capital outflows.

Iran falls further behind regional rivals

UNCTAD data for 2025 show the scale of the investment gap between Iran and some of its regional competitors.

Saudi Arabia attracted $32.6 billion in foreign direct investment last year, while the United Arab Emirates received about $48.2 billion.

The figures underscore Iran’s difficulty competing for foreign capital after years of sanctions and restrictions on international banking and trade.

Lahouti’s comments show that those constraints have now choked off an already limited flow of foreign investment. At the same time, depreciation of the rial, inflation, economic uncertainty and persistent capital outflows have made it more difficult for domestic investors to fill the gap.

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Foreign investment falling to zero this year is therefore part of a longer trend. Iran was struggling to attract foreign capital well before the latest war, while substantial capital outflows added to the pressure on investment at home.

HRANA said the women had been sentenced in separate political, security and protest-related cases on charges including “armed rebellion,” “enmity against God” and “corruption on earth,” offenses that can carry the death penalty under Iran’s Islamic penal code.

The cases were heard by branches of the Revolutionary Courts in Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht and Bandar Abbas, the group said.

The death sentences of Pakhshan Azizi and Arghavan Fallahi have been upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court, according to HRANA.

Azizi, who is being held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, was arrested in August 2023 and sentenced to death the following year on a charge of “armed rebellion through membership in groups opposed to the country,” HRANA said. Her requests for a retrial have since been rejected.

Fallahi, also held in Evin, was arrested in Tehran in February 2025 and later sentenced to death on a charge of “armed rebellion through membership in groups opposed to the government and armed action.” Her sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in August, HRANA said.

A third woman, 68-year-old Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, was sentenced to death for a second time after the Supreme Court overturned an earlier death sentence and ordered a retrial. She was convicted of “armed rebellion through membership and activity in an opposition group” and is being held in Lakan Prison in the northern city of Rasht, according to HRANA.

Four other women — Maryam Hadavand, Mahnaz Chardouli, Leila Abolhasani and Taraneh Rahimi — were sentenced to death in cases connected to the nationwide protests that erupted in January, the rights group said.

Hadavand, 45 and a mother of two, was arrested in connection with events in Pakdasht, southeast of Tehran, on Jan. 8 and sentenced to death on charges including allegedly participating in the killing of two Basij members, deliberately setting fire to a religious site, damaging public property and assembly and collusion against national security, according to HRANA.

Chardouli, held in Qarchak Prison, was tried on charges including “attacking a mosque with a Molotov cocktail,” “participating in gatherings” and “assembly and collusion,” HRANA said.

A Revolutionary Court in Isfahan sentenced Abolhasani, a mother of two teenage daughters, to death on a charge of “enmity against God” after her arrest during protests in Shahin Shahr on Jan. 8. HRANA said a source close to her family had previously said the case stemmed from her presence at and filming of a fire at a shop, while judicial authorities accused her of involvement in the blaze.

Taraneh Rahimi was among 10 defendants sentenced to death and 11 years in prison in a case involving 16 people arrested over the January protests in Isfahan, known as the “Isfahan Shohada Square” case. The defendants were each sentenced to death and 11 years in prison on charges including “enmity against God through carrying a bladed weapon,” destruction of public property and assembly and collusion, the group said.

The eighth woman, 32-year-old Sevda, also known as Marzieh Ebrahimi Shamsabadi, was sentenced to death in Bandar Abbas on a charge of “corruption on earth” in a case HRANA said was linked to security developments during the war.

She also faced accusations including insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader, conducting media activity deemed contrary to national security, carrying out intelligence activity for hostile governments and photographing a military site and sending images to Persian-language media abroad.

HRANA said five of the eight cases were still at the initial trial or appeal stages.

The group also highlighted the case of Bita Hemmati, who had been sentenced to death in connection with the January protests before the Supreme Court overturned the sentence in June and ordered a retrial. HRANA said the outcome of the new proceedings remained unclear.

Separately, Varisheh Moradi, who had been sentenced to death on a charge of “baghi,” or armed rebellion, over alleged membership in an opposition group, had her sentence overturned by the Supreme Court in December 2025 and was granted a retrial. Her case remains unresolved.