CIA used Pegasus Spyware in bold deception campaign to rescue U.S. Airman in Iran

The CIA reportedly used Pegasus spyware to send spoofed messages to Iranian officials, tricking them into believing a downed U.S. airman had already been captured to facilitate his actual rescue.

The CIA used Pegasus spyware to carry out a deception campaign in Iran during an effort to rescue a downed US airman in Iran after his F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down by an Iranian shoulder-launched missile, The Times of London reported.

According to the report, the agency used…

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 12, 2026

The CIA used Pegasus spyware to carry out a deception campaign in Iran during an effort to rescue a downed US airman in Iran after his F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down by an Iranian shoulder-launched missile, The Times of London reported.

According to the report, the agency used the Israeli-made software to send fake messages to Iranian leadership and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operatives claiming the missing officer had already been found.

Pegasus, developed by the Israeli-founded NSO Group, is widely known for enabling operators to infiltrate mobile devices to eavesdrop on communications and harvest data. It can also send messages via platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal that appear to originate from the compromised device, the report said.