U.S. Commandos Rescue Second Airman From Downed Jet Deep in Iran

U.S. forces rescued the second crew member of the F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran on Friday, ending a two-day search deep inside the country, officials said Saturday night and Sunday. President Trump announced the news on social media with the words “WE GOT HIM!” according to CBS News, and called the operation “an Easter miracle,” according to CBS News and NBC News.

The airman, the jet’s weapons systems officer, remained in Iran while the search went on. Mr. Trump described him as a “highly respected Colonel” who was “seriously wounded” but “will be just fine,” CBS News reported. The pilot had been picked up Friday, the day of the shootdown.

NBC News reported, citing a senior administration official, that the CIA ran a deception campaign inside Iran, spreading word that U.S. forces had already found the airman while the agency worked to locate him; it described finding “a brave American soul inside a mountain crevice.” That account was not independently confirmed. CBS News reported that commandos used bombs and weapons fire to keep Iranian troops away, that the airman had only a handgun, and that he was flown to Kuwait for treatment.

The operation was large. CBS News said it involved dozens of special forces personnel and several dozen warplanes and helicopters, and that two transport planes that could not take off from a remote base in Iran were destroyed so they would not fall into enemy hands, with the commandos leaving on three additional aircraft. NBC News quoted Mr. Trump saying he sent “dozens” of aircraft carrying lethal weapons to join the search. An A-10 sent to support the effort was hit by Iranian fire and crashed in Kuwait after its pilot ejected safely, NBC News reported.

Iran disputed the account. NBC News said Iran’s armed forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed multiple U.S. aircraft were destroyed during the rescue, and an official from Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya command named two Black Hawks and a C-130, while Fars news agency cited a military spokesperson saying the attempt had failed. These were Iran’s claims. Mr. Trump said both operations took place “without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded,” NBC News noted, while also describing the airman as seriously wounded.

The rescue did not slow the political clock. CBS News reported that Mr. Trump posted that Tuesday would be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day,” and told the Wall Street Journal that Iran would have no power plants or bridges “standing” if it has not acted by Tuesday evening. He also posted “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” CBS News said Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya command warned of “much more devastating” retaliation if civilian targets are struck, and that Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said such strikes would amount to war crimes.

Iran has also rejected the ultimatums and said the strait will reopen only if war damages are compensated through transit tolls, CBS News reported. A news conference on the rescue was set for Monday afternoon, NBC News said.