U.S. forces have located and evacuated the weapons systems officer who was missing after a fighter jet was shot down over Iran, according to two senior U.S. officials and regional sources. The airman had been unaccounted for following the downing of an F-15E Strike Eagle, which prompted a search-and-rescue mission in hostile territory.
Officials said U.S. personnel reached the service member inside Iran and successfully extracted him. All personnel involved in the operation are now reported to be safely out of the country, Fox News reported, adding that details on the operation remain scant.
Trump announced the rescue on his Truth Social account:
WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. 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! This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue. At my direction, the U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine. 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. This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND! 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. This is a moment that ALL Americans, Republican, Democrat, and everyone else, should be proud of and united around. We truly have the best, most professional, and lethal Military in the History of the World. GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, AND HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!
Mick Ryan, senior fellow for military studies at the Lowy Institute and a retired major general in the Australian Army, told CNN of the rescue mission, “US Air Force, US Army Special Forces, and a range of other organizations would have been coming together, doing crash planning and coming up with a range of different options to rescue both these crew members.” He added: “No one in the world could really pull this off like the US military has.”
“There’s been over 10,000 missions so far with only one fighter jet lost,” he said. “So I think by and large, the US air force has been pretty successful in (suppressing Iranian air defenses).”
Earlier Saturday, Trump said that the downing of the F-15E over Iran on Friday would not affect the ongoing negotiations, pointing out, “It’s war.” Garrett Haake, a Senior White House Correspondent for NBC News, shared in a post on X that Trump “declined to discuss any details of the ongoing, intensive search” for the pilot.
“I just spoke briefly with President Trump,” Haake wrote. “He declined to discuss any details of the ongoing, intensive search for the missing pilot in Iran. I asked if today’s events would affect negotiations with Iran: ‘No, not at all. No, it’s war. We’re in war, Garrett.’”
