US officials considered a covert raid to either destroy or recover the wreckage of a stealth RQ-170 unmanned aircraft that crashed in the rugged terrain of Eastern Iran last week, but decided that a military operation of that nature might spark a declaration of war from that country’s leadership.
The officials considered three options for ensuring that the Iranians could not recover the wreckage and study the advanced aircraft design and sensor technologies. One option involved sending a team of commandos from Afghanistan and also allied agents inside Iran to the site of the wreckage. Another option was to insert a team into the area to blow up the remains of the unmanned aircraft. Yet another option, which would not have involved ground forces, was to destroy the remains with an air strike.
Source: Defense Systems