US President Donald Trump has confirmed an airman of a fighter plane downed over Iran has been rescued. The F-15 fighter plane was shot down by Iranian forces on Friday. The fighter jet was the first American aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the start of the war in late February.
A desperate US search-and-rescue operation was launched after the crash of the F-15 Strike Eagle on Friday, as Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in the “enemy pilot”. A second crew member, understood to be the pilot, was rescued earlier.
President Trump said the risky Saturday night operation was one of the “most daring” in US military history. “At my direction, the U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine.” “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,” he said in a statement on social media. “WE GOT HIM!”
Multiple US outlets are reporting that the operation to rescue the missing airman involved hundreds of special forces troops. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it destroyed a US aircraft in central Iran during the search and rescue operation for the missing F-15 crew member, according to Iranian media reports. The Tasnim news agency, quoting the military, says the US aircraft was “destroyed by the fighters of Islam in the southern region of Isfahan”.
Mr Trump didn’t mention the destruction of any US aircraft in his description of the rescue operation on social media. However, multiple US media outlets are reporting that at least one transport plane involved in the operation became “stuck” at a remote base in Iran, and was destroyed on the ground by US forces to prevent it from falling into Iranian hands.
US aircraft attacked Iranian convoys that were headed to the search area, and a firefight took place between the US rescuers and Iranian search parties. Mr Trump said last week the US would finish the war “very fast”. But two days later, Iranian forces were able to shoot down two American military planes, showcasing the ability of the regime to continue to fight back.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began. In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 US service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed, and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
