President Donald Trump has confirmed that both crew members of a United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran have been rescued, describing the operation as one of the most audacious search and rescue missions in American military history.
Trump confirmed the second rescue in an early Sunday social media post on his Truth Social platform, saying the missing officer was a colonel who had sustained injuries but would be fine, and that US commandos recovered him in a complex operation involving dozens of special forces personnel and several dozen warplanes and helicopters.
The White House said Trump was in the Oval Office throughout Saturday receiving constant updates from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as the operation unfolded.
Trump said the first rescue had taken place on Saturday but was deliberately kept secret to avoid jeopardising the second operation, adding that the rescued colonel had been behind enemy lines in the mountains of Iran, evading Iranian forces that were closing in on him.
According to US officials, the F-15E pilot and weapons systems officer both made contact via their communications systems after ejecting on Friday. The pilot was rescued within hours of the jet being shot down. During that first operation, Iran struck a US Blackhawk helicopter, wounding crew members, though the aircraft was able to continue flying.
A senior administration official told Axios that before locating the weapons systems officer, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a deception campaign by spreading word inside Iran that US forces had already found him, buying time while the CIA used specialised capabilities to search for him in mountainous terrain.
The rescued officer was subsequently flown to Kuwait to receive treatment for his injuries.
The shootdown of the F-15E on Friday marked the first confirmed loss of an American combat aircraft to enemy fire since the war with Iran began, with the two downed fighter jets being the first shot down in over twenty years, the last occurring during the Iraq war in 2003. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility.
Separately, the IRGC said on Sunday that it had shot down a US aircraft involved in the rescue operation in the southern province of Isfahan, claiming it was a C-130 class aircraft destroyed by a police commando unit. The US military had not issued a formal response to that claim at the time of publication.
Diplomatic activity continued alongside the military drama, with Oman’s foreign ministry confirming it had met with Iranian officials to discuss options for ensuring smooth transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route that has been closed since the conflict escalated.
