US President Donald Trump on Sunday said US forces had safely recovered a second colonel — part of the crew of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle in Iran — concluding a 36-hour rescue operation in the middle of the Zagros highlands that involved dozens of aircraft and hundreds of special operations forces, according to US officials and informed sources.
“The United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND!” Trump said on Truth Social.
“He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine,” he added.
Trump said at his direction, the US Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the world, to retrieve him.
“This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation,” he said.
The injured officer was rescued following two days of risky operations, after the officer’s F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down during a night mission in southwestern Iran.
The first crew member was rescued on Friday by two Blackhawk helicopters that were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, two US officials told Reuters.
In a separate incident, an A10 Warthog fighter aircraft was hit and crashed over the Arabian Gulf, with the pilot ejecting, the officials said. The degree of any injuries among the crew of the aircraft remained unclear.
The governor of Iran’s Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province said anyone who captured or killed the crew “would be specially commended,” Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
Two-day race
The rescue followed a life-or-death race between US and Iranian forces to reach the airman, a weapons system officer, that stretched over two days, officials told The New York Times on Sunday.
Navy SEAL Team 6 commandos rescued the weapons systems officer in an operation that involved hundreds of special operations troops and other military personnel working deep in enemy territory, current and former US officials said.
After ejecting from the F-15E, the officer hid in a mountain crevice. His location was initially unknown to the United States, but US officials found his hiding place via a beacon he was carrying.
The CIA also initiated a deception campaign to try to confuse Iranian forces and convince them the airman had already been rescued and was moving out of the country in a ground convoy.
After confirming the airman’s identity and that he was alone, senior military officials waited until dark to launch a rescue mission, which included Special Operations helicopters loaded with commandos.
US aircraft dropped bombs and opened fire on Iranian convoys to keep them away from where the airman was hiding. US commandos also opened fire to keep Iranian forces away from the rescue site as they converged on the airman.
But they did not engage in a firefight with enemy forces. US officials described the territory where the airman was hiding as strongly opposed to the Iranian regime and said it was unclear how close Iranian forces ever got to the site.
Planes destroyed
The airman was taken by helicopter to a sandy, austere airstrip inside Iran that Special Operations forces had previously developed for possible rescues or other contingencies.
The plan was to immediately load the airman and the rescue force onto two C-130 aircraft that were supposed to carry them out of danger to an airfield in Kuwait. But, in a final twist, the nose gear of at least one, and possibly both, of those planes got stuck in the sandy dirt at the airstrip, military officials said.
Hours passed. Efforts to free the stuck wheels failed, so the commandos called in three replacement aircraft.
Officials in the Pentagon and at Central Command waited anxiously. The success of a dangerous mission, which had seemed nearly complete, was suddenly once again uncertain.
Eventually the commandos and the injured weapons system operator were reloaded onto three newly arrived replacement aircraft. After the rescue team left, American warplanes bombed the two disabled planes rather than let them fall into Iranian hands.
As the sun was rising, the three planes launched in succession from the remote airstrip. The plane carrying the rescued airman went first followed by the others.
“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies,” Trump said on social media.
Iran’s version
In return, Iran's military claimed the US operation was “completely foiled.”
Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari told state media US forces had used an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province, which lies to the northwest of the area where the airman ejected.
He said the aircraft had been taking part in “a deception and escape mission... under the pretext of recovering the pilot of a downed aircraft.
Iranian state media broadcast images of the charred wreckage of what appears to be a plane in a desert area, while officials claimed that two C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters had been destroyed.
In the footage, two charred propellers and engines can be clearly seen, with specialized open-source geolocating experts claiming the images were taken about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the city of Isfahan.
Iran’s Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Ghalibaf said: “If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined.”
