Deception tactic, serious challenges, a massive chase in enemy land, dozens of heavily armed aircraft and a treacherous trek comprised the nerve-wracking US rescue operation to pull out aviators after their fighter jet was shot down by Iran.
The last weekend saw the United States carrying out a high-risk rescue operation to recover two aviators after their fighter jet — — was shot down in Iran, extracting one pilot from behind enemy lines before launching a complex mission to retrieve the second, who had taken refuge deep in the mountains as Tehran urged citizens to help capture him.
To mislead Iran’s government, the CIA initiated a deception effort, spreading information inside the Islamic Republic suggesting the US had already located the missing crew member.
The F-15E Strike Eagle shot down last Friday was first reported to be an F-35 by Iranian media.
7-hour long mission, required ‘complete silence’
While US President and other officials later portrayed the mission as almost cinematic, those involved faced serious challenges, including two Black Hawk helicopters coming under fire and technical issues with two transport planes that ultimately had to be destroyed by Washington’s forces.
“This is the first time in military memory that two US Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory,” Trump wrote early Sunday on his Truth Social platform. “WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!”
In a pair of social media posts, Trump said the weekend operation required complete silence to avoid compromising the mission, even as he and senior members of his administration closely tracked the airman’s position.
For over 24 hours after the crash, the and Pentagon declined to share details about the downed fighter jet, particularly regarding the first crew member rescued from the F-15E Strike Eagle – a mission Trump later said lasted seven hours in broad daylight over Iran.
Then a race ensued, in both the US and Iran, to locate the second crew member, a weapons systems officer, whose whereabouts were unknown to either side. While Iran was trying to hunt the pilot down, US was searching for him.
CIA’s deception effort
The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), circulated false information inside Iran claiming the US had found the airman and was transporting him over land to extract him from the country, Associated Press reported, citing a senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This misinformation created enough confusion to allow the CIA to determine the service member’s actual location, where he was hiding in a mountain crevice, the official said.
Despite being injured, the crew member had climbed 7,000 feet (2,133 meters), according to Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican who told “Fox News Sunday” he had been briefed by a senior official involved in the mission.
The intelligence agency then relayed the aviator’s coordinates to the and the White House, where Trump authorised the rescue.
Iran urged the public to look for the ‘enemy pilot’
At the same time, an anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television called on residents in the mountainous southwest region of the country, where the jet crashed, to report any “enemy pilot” to authorities and offered a reward, according to the Associated Press report which detailed the rescue operation.
Trump said the American aviator was being “hunted down” by adversaries who were “getting closer and closer by the hour,” adding that US officials were continuously monitoring his position.
At what he described as the right moment, Trump ordered the deployment of dozens of heavily armed aircraft to recover the crew member, who he said was “seriously wounded” but expected to survive.
Iranian state media reported that airstrikes in southwestern Iran on Saturday killed at least three people and injured others in the same region where the missing American crew member was believed to be.
Obstacles with aircraft during operation
The mission encountered many difficulties inside Iran. The Iranian joint military command claimed it had struck the two US Black Hawk helicopters involved in the operation.
A person familiar with the situation said the helicopters managed to reach safe airspace, though it remains unclear whether they landed or if any personnel were injured. The individual spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Due to a technical malfunction, the US military had to deploy additional aircraft to complete the rescue of the second service member, AP quoted a regional intelligence official briefed on the operation as saying. Two transport planes were destroyed after being abandoned because of the issue, the official added, also speaking anonymously.
On Sunday, Iranian state television aired footage it claimed showed debris from a US , along with an image of thick black smoke. The broadcaster said a transport plane and two helicopters involved in the rescue had been downed.
Iran’s joint military command stated that the destroyed aircraft included two C-130 transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters in Isfahan province, where the rescue occurred.
“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.
A second US military jet also was downed
However, Trump did not mention that a second military aircraft went down the same day as the F-15E.
Iranian state media reported Friday that a US attack aircraft crashed after being struck by Iranian defenses. Pilot of this jet reportedly ejected and was safe.
A US official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed that a second Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East on Friday.
Another individual familiar with the matter said an additional US pilot was rescued, though further details were not disclosed due to security concerns.
Neither source provided additional information, including whether the aircraft involved was the A-10.
