Given how far they were from the crash site, it seems very implausible that it was a rescue operation. The pilot would've had to walk 172 km in a single day to get to the location from crash site and other pilot. And the video of the jet getting shot down clearly shows they both ejected at the same time.

The two points on that Google Maps screenshot show the crash site of the downed F-15E in central Iran (lower black circle) and the location where the second crew member (weapons systems officer) was supposedly rescued by U.S. special forces (upper red pin near Shahrekord).

It might not have been an attempt to seize uranium, although given where they were that seems likely, but it clearly wasn't about the pilot. The reason why they'd make it up seems pretty simple. At first, they probably thought they'd use it as misdirection, and then when the whole thing ended up being a debacle, they tried to spin it as a successful rescue. If they managed to achieve whatever it is they were trying then they could tell a story of how they brilliantly tricked the Iranians.

Yes, specifically a colossal fuckup in attempting to exfiltrate enriched uranium.

It's Official: US Boots-On-Ground Deep Inside Iran Amidst Another Day of Humiliating Losses

The geolocated wreckage of the C-130s which were apparently using a local “agricultural airstrip” (32.223369, 51.897678) just happens to be right over a mountain, about 35km away, from Isfahan’s nuclear facility, where Iran’s ‘near-weapons grade’ enriched uranium is alleged to be stored.

In an article just last month, [Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency] Rafael Grossi stated the following:

Almost half of ‌Iran's uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons-grade, was stored in a tunnel complex at Isfahan and is probably still there, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday.

And all the responses doubling down on the unsubstantiated claims.

What’s the source on that image showing the crash site and where the airman was recovered? Don’t think would be shared publicly unless someone leaked (wouldn’t surprise me). But in that case why wouldn’t someone blow the lid on the whole thing? If there’s one thing this clown show of an admin is bad at it’s keeping secrets.