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The small farming community of Parzan near the city of Shahreza in Iran’s Isfahan province had been largely spared from the US-Israeli war now in its second month – until several US aircraft landed on a dirt airstrip near their village.

• The site of the destroyed aircraft in Isfahan province

“I started hearing planes and helicopters just after midnight. They seemed to be circling above. Then there were explosions,” said Amir, a farmer in his mid-50s, whose name has been changed for security reasons. “My neighbour drove out into the desert to check what was happening but quickly came back after his car was attacked and damaged. That’s when we called the police. For the rest of the night, explosions and heavy gunfire kept us awake.”

Residents from the farming community who witnessed parts of the operation said they were still reeling from the incident, which they said had taken people’s lives.

• Debris from the site outside the city of Shahreza

As the sun set on Monday, municipality workers and Iranian army personnel were clearing the site where two US C-130 Hercules military transport planes and at least two helicopters had been destroyed hours earlier, their charred remains scattered across the remote airstrip after a complex two-day US rescue mission to recover two airmen from a downed F-15 fighter jet that Iran had shot down two days earlier on Friday. Residents described the airstrip as being normally used for crop-dusting.

“A pickup truck carrying civilians happened to be passing nearby and it was attacked too. Luckily everyone was able to get out and survived,” Amir said, standing next to the destroyed planes and watching the ongoing recovery work.

• A bulldozer clears the burned aircraft

Shortly after midnight on Sunday in Washington, Donald Trump announced that the two US airmen had been rescued in a complex operation involving 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refuelling tankers and 13 rescue aircraft.

The US said it destroyed the helicopters and C-130 aircraft after at least one of the planes became stuck and could not take off, insisting they had not come under attack.

• Municipality workers and Iranian army personnel clear the site where two US C-130 military transport planes and at least two helicopters were destroyed

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards meanwhile claimed Iranian forces had destroyed two C-130 aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters during the operation. The Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari said: “The so-called US military rescue operation, planned as a deception and escape mission at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan under the pretext of recovering the pilot of a downed aircraft, was completely foiled.”

An Iranian military officer, who asked not to be identified, said a friend and colleague of his had been killed during the operation.

• Recovery operations continue outside Shahreza as cranes lift heavy pieces of debris

“He was on duty that night when local residents reported seeing several planes land. On the way to the area, they came under attack, and my friend was killed,” said the officer, who was at the scene of the burned aircraft on Monday afternoon. ”During the operation, Iranian military forces struck one of the C-130 aircraft, which is why it wasn’t able to take off.”

• Workers clear fragments scattered across the desert plain

On Monday, as recovery operations continued outside Shahreza, cranes lifted heavy pieces of debris on to trucks while workers cleared smaller fragments scattered across the desert plain about an hour’s drive south of the provincial capital Isfahan. In Washington, Trump again escalated threats against Iran, warning of devastation if it did not reopen the strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline.