How CIA threw Iranians off airman's scent to help extract him after 36 hours

The CIA launched a deception operation within Iran, disseminating false information that the airman had been found and was being moved overland for extraction. This misdirection aimed to divert Iranian search efforts away from the officer's actual location.

In Short

• US Air Force colonel evades capture for hours in Zagros Mountains
• US air and ground forces conduct intense rescue operation under fire
• Colonel rescued with zero US casualties, flown to Kuwait for treatment

A wounded US Air Force colonel, alone in enemy territory, climbed a 7,000-foot ridge, slipped into a rock crevice, and disappeared. For the next 36 hours, he was hunted.

Iranian forces spread across the Zagros Mountains. Local tribesmen joined the chase. A bounty was announced. The terrain was unforgiving, the odds narrowing by the hour.

“Thousands of these savages were hunting him down,” President Trump said, capturing the scale of the pursuit.

Yet the officer kept moving. Despite serious injuries, he climbed more than 1.3 miles, carrying little more than a handgun, survival training, and the instinct to stay alive.

SHOT DOWN, SPLIT SECONDS TO SURVIVE

The crisis began on April 3, when an F-15E Strike Eagle was brought down by Iranian fire, marking the first American combat aircraft lost in the war.

Both crew members ejected. The pilot was rescued within hours, even as Iranian fire targeted US helicopters, injuring crew members.

The weapons systems officer was not as fortunate. He vanished into the mountains.

What followed was a desperate race. For the next day and a half, he evaded capture, hiding, climbing, and carefully managing his movements as search teams closed in.

At one point, he transmitted a short, unusual message over the radio: “God is good.”

ALONE, ARMED, AND WAITING

With Iranian forces sweeping the region, the officer relied on discipline and restraint. He limited the use of his emergency beacon, knowing it could expose his position.

Instead, he used a secure, encrypted device to communicate with US forces.

When he finally activated his beacon from a mountain crevice, there were fears it could be a trap.

Back home, the uncertainty was palpable.

Trump later said the officer had “sustained injuries, but he will be just fine.”

THE DECEPTION THAT BOUGHT TIME

As the hunt intensified, the United States turned to misdirection.

The CIA launched a deception campaign, feeding false intelligence to Iran that the airman had already been rescued and was being driven out of the country.

The goal was simple: pull Iranian forces away from the real location.

It worked.

US intelligence tracked the officer’s equipment and narrowed down his position. Once confirmed, the coordinates were passed to military planners.

One official described it as a “needle in a haystack”, a lone figure hidden in vast, hostile terrain.

FIREPOWER IN THE SKY, PRESSURE ON THE GROUND

When the rescue began, it was anything but quiet.

Dozens of aircraft filled the skies. MQ-9 Reaper drones formed a protective perimeter. US attack aircraft struck Iranian convoys that moved too close. A-10 Warthogs and helicopters provided close air support under fire.

On the ground, special operations forces moved in. Reports indicated skirmishes with local tribesmen as rescuers closed in on the airman’s position.

At the same time, Israeli intelligence tracked Iranian troop movements, while regional strikes were paused to create a narrow window for the mission.

THE EXTRACTION

US commandos inserted near the officer on Saturday night.

As they approached, gunfire echoed through the mountains. Iranian forces were closing in, but the rescue team pressed forward.

The officer was found alive.

Then came another complication.

Two MC-130J aircraft positioned for extraction became immobilised near a remote airstrip southeast of Isfahan. The decision was immediate: destroy them. Sensitive systems could not fall into Iranian hands.

Explosives were set. The aircraft were blown up. Three more planes were called in under fire.

The airman and the rescue teams were loaded onboard and flown out. Zero American casualties.

THE RACE ENDS

After 36 hours on the run, the officer was out.

He was flown to Kuwait for treatment. His injuries were serious, but survivable.

“WE GOT HIM!” Trump wrote, celebrating the mission.

A WAR WITHIN THE SHADOWS

Even as the rescue unfolded, tensions surged elsewhere. Trump had warned that “Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” threatening strikes if Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz.

Yet, within that broader confrontation, this mission stood apart.

It was a story of one man hunted across mountains, and the vast machinery deployed to bring him home.

A story where deception mattered as much as firepower.

And where, for 36 hours, survival came down to endurance, instinct, and the hope that help would arrive before the hunters did.

- Ends