A missing US service member whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran has been rescued by US forces, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post early Sunday.
“WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND!” Trump wrote.
“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,” he added. “WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!”
The high-stakes search began this week after the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down in the region. Another crew member was rescued alive shortly after the crash and was receiving medical attention, CNN previously reported.
Trump also touted this earlier rescue in his Sunday social media post, claiming that “this is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory.”
It wasn’t immediately clear where in Iran the jet went down.
“The President was working in the Oval all day and was receiving constant updates from the Secretary of War,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement early Sunday.
The rescue comes after more than a day of uncertainty over the airman’s fate, with Iranian state media promising rewards for his capture and reporting on Iranian tribesmen shooting at US helicopters involved in the search effort.
The incident marked the first time a manned US aircraft was shot down over Iran during the conflict. Near the beginning of the war, three F-15s were mistakenly shot down in a friendly fire incident by Kuwaiti air defenses.
It comes as Trump administration officials have made repeated claims that the war is essentially won, and that the US has air superiority over the country.
The F-15 “has the capability to fight its way to a target over long ranges, destroy enemy ground positions and fight its way out,” according to the Air Force. In the rear cockpit, the weapons systems officer monitors the aircraft’s status, checks for possible threats and selects targets, an Air Force information page says.
Later Friday, a second US military plane — an A-10 Thunderbolt II — was struck by Iran, forcing the pilot to eject, according to a US official familiar with the matter. The pilot of the A-10, also known as a Warthog, was able to navigate the plane out of Iranian territory before ejecting from the aircraft and was subsequently rescued, the official said.–CNN
