The second US airman missing in Iran after a fighter jet was shot down has been rescued following a high-stakes military operation deep inside hostile territory, Donald Trump has announced.
The US president revealed late on Saturday that the stranded serviceman, a colonel, had been recovered after surviving days behind enemy lines while being hunted by Iranian forces.
Declaring the mission a success in a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “WE GOT HIM!”
He described the operation as “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History”, saying American forces managed to extract the injured officer from rugged mountainous terrain.
“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,” Trump said.
The airman, who had been wounded during a fierce clash with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is now said to be “safe and sound”.
The dramatic rescue followed a frantic two-day search after the crew of an F-15E fighter jet were forced to eject in the early hours of Friday.
Trump said the jet’s pilot had been recovered shortly after the crash in a covert operation, but officials kept it under wraps so as not to “jeopardize our second rescue operation.”
The downing of the F-15E came during a chaotic day of fighting in which a US A-10 Warthog was also shot out of the sky by Iranian forces. It marked the first American aircraft losses since the conflict began.
Earlier, Trump claimed US forces had “terminated” several Iranian military leaders, sharing footage that appeared to show an airstrike targeting senior IRGC commanders.
His announcement on the rescue came amid a separate row over his absence from public view, with the White House insisting rumours he had been hospitalised were false and saying he had been focused on the escalating war.
In the hours before the airman was found, Iran had intensified efforts to capture him, placing a $60,000 bounty on US personnel and urging locals to track him down.
Before the rescue, the Iranian Embassy in Kabul posted images of the wrecked F-15E alongside a mocking message.
“The stealth fighter that now has no escape but to lie under the feet of aerospace warriors,” it wrote.
“That same stealth giant, for which they wove legends for years, is today a pile of scrap metal fallen to the ground - this is the very technology they claimed was invisible and untouchable,” it added. “But now it has been seen and brought down.”
Meanwhile, broadcasters in Iran urged civilians near the crash site to seize the American pilot, telling viewers: “If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police you will receive a precious prize.”
Screens also reportedly flashed warnings to “shoot them if you see them”, as footage showed armed locals combing mountainous terrain.
According to Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin, the rescued crew member, a Weapons Systems Officer, managed to evade capture using specialist survival training.
The airman relied on SERE, survival, evasion, resistance and escape, techniques. He climbed to higher ground away from the wreckage and activated an emergency beacon to aid rescuers.
US officials said the mission was “very complex”, involving multiple branches of the military. Several Iranian troops were reportedly killed or wounded during the firefight, while no US personnel died.
Earlier rescue efforts had been hampered when two American helicopters were struck by Iranian fire, leaving crew members injured.
Footage circulating online also appeared to show members of Iran’s Bakhtiari tribes heading into the mountains armed with rifles in a bid to locate the missing serviceman.
In a taunting response, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf mocked Washington’s war effort in a social media post.
“After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from “regime change” to “Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?”' he wrote.
