Trump: Colonel badly wounded, was rescued as Iran closed in

‘WE GOT HIM’: US commandos rescue downed F-15 airman in daring raid deep inside Iran

Aviator reportedly scaled 7,000 feet to evade capture, commandos spirited him away on planes sent to replace designated aircraft that got stuck and had to be blown up; Israel contributed intel

US special forces conducted a daring raid deep into enemy territory to safely rescue a wounded US airman who was shot down over southwest Iran, with US President Donald Trump triumphantly declaring “WE GOT HIM,” on Sunday, ending a 36-hour race to find the aviator before he could be captured by pursuing Iranian forces.

The airman was one of two crew in the F-15E fighter jet that was shot down on Friday, sparking what US officials said was one of the most complex special forces rescue operations in US military history.

The pilot was rescued the same day. But US commandos reached the weapons officer only late Saturday, and extracted him aboard substitute planes after the original rescue aircraft failed to take off and had to be blown up by the special forces.

“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 Office Members,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The unnamed weapons officer, a colonel, was “SAFE AND SOUND” after spending over a day “behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump said.

“At my direction, the US 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,” said Trump.

The US president also officially confirmed the rescue of the F-15E pilot on Friday. It was “the first time in military memory” that two US air crew “have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory,” said Trump.

“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies,” Trump claimed.

Later Sunday, Trump posted that the rescued airman was badly hurt and was brought out as Iranian soldiers were closing in on him.

“We have rescued the seriously wounded, and really brave, F-15 Crew Member/Officer, from deep inside the mountains of Iran. The Iranian Military was looking hard, in big numbers, and getting close,” he posted.

Trump, who announced that he will speak to the media from the Oval Office on Monday, describes the rescued officer as a “highly respected Colonel.”

“This type of raid is seldom attempted because of the danger to ‘man and equipment.’ It just doesn’t happen! The second raid came after the first one, where we rescued the pilot in broad daylight, also unusual, spending seven hours over Iran,” he wrote.

Citing US officials, Axios reported that the weapons officer was rescued “by a specialized commando unit with a high volume of air cover,” and that the US carried out airstrikes to prevent Iranian forces from reaching him.

The commandos who converged on the weapons officer also fired their weapons to keep Iranian forces away, but did not get into a gunfight with Iranian forces, The New York Times reported, citing a US military official.

Hundreds of special operations soldiers took part in the rescue mission, which a senior US military official described as one of the most challenging in US history, the paper said.

Aircraft destroyed

Despite Trump’s claims of a flawless rescue operation, the forces apparently had to abandon and destroy several of the aircraft they were using after they became stuck on the makeshift air strip set up by the commandos deep inside Iran.

On Sunday, Iran’s state TV aired a video showing thick black smoke rising into the air, claiming that they had shot down an American transport plane and two Black Hawk helicopters that were part of the rescue operation.

“An American enemy aircraft that was searching for the pilot of a downed fighter jet was destroyed by the fighters of Islam in the southern region of Isfahan,” the Tasnim news agency quoted the IRGC as saying.

However, a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission told The Associated Press that the US military blew up two transport planes due to a technical malfunction, forcing it to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission.

The airman and commandos were then spirited out of Iran on three planes that senior officers sent in to replace the two designated extraction aircraft, which got stuck in a remote base in Iran, the Times said.

To prevent the original aircraft from falling to Iranian hands, US forces blew up the aircraft, the report said.

The Iranian military later said the US had used an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province.

“The so-called US military rescue operation, planned as a deception and escape mission at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan under the pretext of recovering the pilot of a downed aircraft, was completely foiled,” said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the military’s central command, Khatam Al-Anbiya.

Hiked up 7,000 feet to evade capture

The New York Times report also detailed how the airman had managed to survive behind hostile lines.

According to the Times, the weapons officer was shot down over an area “where there is significant opposition” to the Iranian regime, and may have been able to seek help from locals in a CIA-aided process known as “unconventional assisted recovery.”

US air crews are trained in what to do if they go down behind enemy lines, measures known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE), but few are fluent in Persian and face a challenge in staying undetected while seeking rescue.

A senior US military official cited by the Times said the weapons officer, who was wounded from the fall, at one point hiked up some 7,000 feet (2.1 kilometers) to evade capture.

He had a beacon and secure communication device with him, but limited use of the beacon because Iranian forces could have detected it, the Times said.

Iranian authorities had also offered a reward for anyone who found the missing weapons officer, hoping to gain leverage against Washington in the war Trump and Israel launched on February 28 in a bid to destabilize Iran’s regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

The US military search-and-rescue operation was assisted by Israel with intelligence, according to Israeli defense officials.

The Israeli Air Force also postponed strikes in areas of Iran where the search efforts were taking place, an Israeli official said.

Following the rescue, the airman was flown to Kuwait for treatment, the Times said.

US media reports also challenged Trump’s assertion that not a single US soldier was wounded over the two days of efforts to find the downed aviators.

US officials cited by the Washington Post on condition of anonymity said Iranian forces on the ground opened fire on two helicopters searching for the weapons officer, and wounded some US service members who were aboard.

Crew members were also wounded in an Iranian strike on a US Blackhawk helicopter that took part in the search for the pilot who was rescued on Friday, Axios reported.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report