US mission rescues airman from Iran after F-15 crash

A high-stakes American rescue mission deep inside Iran has recovered an airman from behind enemy lines after Tehran shot down a fighter jet, officials said today, easing an immediate political and military test for US President Donald Trump as he considers widening a war now in its sixth week.

The rescued airman, whom Mr Trump identified as a colonel, was the weapons-systems officer aboard the downed F-15, a US official said.

“Over the past several hours, the United States military pulled off one of the most daring search and rescue operations in US history,” Mr Trump said in a statement, adding that the airman was injured but “he will be just fine”.

The officer was the second of the two crew members aboard the warplane that Iran said its air defences shot down on Friday.

An Iranian military spokesman said a C-130 military transport plane and two Black Hawk helicopters were also among the aircraft brought down.

Reuters reported on Friday that the first crew member had already been recovered, setting off an intense and highly visible hunt by both Iran and the United States for the remaining airman.

An American F-15 was shot down in Iran on Friday (file pic)

Iranian officials had called on the public to help locate him, in what appeared to be an effort to gain leverage over Washington in the war launched by Mr Trump and Israel on 28 February.

Mr Trump has warned that the conflict could intensify in the coming days, including possible strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure.

Mr Trump, who has also threatened to target Iranian power plants if his demands were not met, suggested Tehran’s deadline to reach an agreement to end the war was around 10am ET (3pm Irish time) tomorrow.

If Iran had captured the airman, it could have triggered a hostage crisis capable of reshaping US public opinion toward a war that opinion polls already show is unpopular.

Mr Trump said the rescue took place “in the treacherous mountains of Iran” and described it as the first time in military memory that two US pilots had been rescued separately from deep inside enemy territory.

The official said that as the weapons-systems officer was transferred from near a mountain to a transport aircraft on the ground inside Iran, US forces were forced to destroy at least one aircraft after it malfunctioned.

The operation, which involved dozens of military aircraft, ran into fierce Iranian resistance.

Reuters reported on Friday that two Black Hawk helicopters taking part in the search were struck by Iranian fire but managed to escape Iranian airspace.

In a separate incident, officials said a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, although the extent of any crew injuries was not immediately clear.

Even so, Mr Trump struck a triumphant tone.

“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,” he said in his statement.

US air crews are trained for being shot down behind enemy lines under Survival, ⁠Evasion, Resistance and Escape protocols, but few speak Persian fluently and avoiding detection while awaiting rescue presents a major challenge.

The conflict has killed 13 US military service members and wounded more than 300, according to US Central Command. No US troops have been captured by Iran.

Although Mr Trump has repeatedly depicted Iran’s military as badly degraded, Iranian forces have continued to show they can strike US aircraft.

Reuters reported that US intelligence assessments show Iran still holds substantial missile and drone capabilities. Until just over a week ago, the United States could say with certainty only that it had destroyed about one-third of Iran’s missile arsenal.

The fate of roughly another third remained less certain, though Reuters sources said bombing raids likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers.

The US and Israeli war on Iran has rippled across the Middle East, killing thousands and rattling the global economy as surging energy prices fuel fresh inflation fears.