Mountain hideout, planes under fire: US daring rescue

The United States bravely managed to rescue two airmen whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran; He plucked the pilot from behind enemy lines, then embarked on a complex extraction of the second airman, who was hiding deep in the mountains as Tehran called on the Iranians to help capture him.

The CIA attempted to elude the Iranian government before the crew member was located and launched a deception campaign within the Islamic Republic to spread the news that it had located the man.

Even as President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials described an almost cinematic mission, rescuers faced major obstacles, including two Black Hawk helicopters coming under fire and problems with two transport planes that forced the U.S. military to blow them up.

“For the first time in military memory, two US pilots were separately rescued deep in Enemy Territory,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform early Sunday. “WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARRIOR BEHIND!”

In a pair of social media posts, Trump said the weekend operation required complete U.S. silence to prevent the effort from being compromised, even as the president and senior members of his administration constantly monitored the airman’s location.

The White House and Pentagon refused to publicly discuss details about the crashed fighter jet for more than 24 hours after the initial crash, particularly details regarding the first crew member rescued from the F-15E Strike Eagle; Trump later said the effort lasted seven hours in broad daylight over Iran.

At the time, the U.S. and Iranian governments were racing to find the second crew member, a weapons systems officer, whose location neither side knew.

The CIA spread the word that the United States had found him and was moving him by ground to get him out of Iran, according to a senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released.

The confusion enabled the CIA to uncover the location of the soldier hiding in a crevasse in the mountain, the official said.

The intelligence agency sent the coordinates to the Pentagon and the White House, where Trump ordered the rescue operation.

Meanwhile, an announcer on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television was urging residents of the mountainous region in southwestern Iran, where the warplane crashed, to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the police and was promising a reward for anyone who did so.

Trump said American airmen were being “hunted” by enemies who were “getting closer by the hour.”

He said the United States is constantly monitoring its position.

Trump said he instructed the military at the right time to send dozens of heavily armed planes to rescue the crew member, who the president said was “seriously injured” but would recover.

Iranian state media reported that airstrikes in southwestern Iran on Saturday killed at least three people and injured others in the area where the missing American crew member is believed to be located.

The American rescue mission encountered great difficulties behind enemy lines.

Iran’s joint military command claimed that two US Black Hawk helicopters participating in the operation were shot down.

A person familiar with the situation said the two helicopters were able to get to safe airspace, but it was unclear whether they landed or whether crew members were injured. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

The U.S. military had to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue of the second soldier due to a technical malfunction, according to a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secret mission, said the US blew up two transport planes it had to leave behind due to the accident.

Iranian state television on Sunday aired a video and photo of thick black smoke rising from what it claimed were parts of a US plane shot down by Iranian forces. The broadcaster said Iran shot down a transport plane and two helicopters as part of the rescue operation.

Iran’s joint military command said that there were two C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters on the plane destroyed in Isfahan province, where rescue efforts were carried out.

“The fact that we were able to carry out both of these operations without a single American being killed or even injured proves once again that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority in the skies over Iran,” Trump said on social media.

A second US military jet was also shot down.

However, Trump did not mention that a second military jet was shot down on the same day as the F-15E.

A US A-10 attack plane crashed after being shot down by Iranian defense forces, Iranian state media reported on Friday.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation, confirmed that a second U.S. Air Force fighter jet was shot down in the Middle East on Friday.

The official gave no further details about what happened or provided information about the crew’s condition.

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