{"id":365857,"date":"2026-04-06T06:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/365857\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T06:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:05:09","slug":"how-the-us-carried-out-daring-rescue-of-service-member-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/365857\/","title":{"rendered":"How the US carried out daring rescue of service member in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was shot down<\/a> by Iran, plucking the pilot from behind enemy lines before setting off a complicated extraction of the second service member <\/a>who hid deep in the mountains as Tehran called for Iranians to help capture him.<\/p>\n

The CIA looked to throw off Iran\u2019s government before the crew member was found, launching a deception campaign to spread word inside the Islamic Republic that it had already located him.<\/p>\n

Even as President Donald Trump<\/a> and other US 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 US military to blow them up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time in military memory that two US Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory,\u201d Trump wrote early Sunday (local time) on his Truth Social platform. \u201cWE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!\u201d<\/p>\n

US officials stayed silent as the operation played out<\/p>\n

In a pair of social media posts, Trump said the operation over the weekend required the US to remain completely silent to avoid jeopardising the effort, even as the president and top members of his administration continuously monitored the airman\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

The White House and the Pentagon refused to publicly discuss details about the downed fighter jet for well over 24 hours after the initial crash, particularly about the first crew member rescued from the F-15E Strike Eagle\u2014 an effort that Trump later said took seven hours in broad daylight over Iran.<\/p>\n

The United States and Iran’s government then were both racing to find the second crew member, a weapons systems officer, whose location neither side knew.<\/p>\n

The CIA spread word that the US had found him and were 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 made public.<\/p>\n

The confusion allowed the CIA to uncover the location of the service member, who was hiding in a mountain crevice, the official said. The intelligence agency sent the coordinates to the Pentagon and the White House, where Trump ordered a rescue operation.<\/p>\n

\"While<\/p>\n

While one crew member was rescued in Iran, the whereabouts of at least one other was unknown \u2014 marking a dramatic escalation since the war began nearly five weeks ago. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Iran urged the public to look for the \u2018enemy pilot\u2019<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television had been urging residents in the mountainous region of southwest Iran where the fighter jet went down to hand over any \u201cenemy pilot\u201d to police and promised a reward for anyone who did.<\/p>\n

Trump said the American aviator was being \u201chunted down\u201d by enemies who were \u201cgetting closer and closer by the hour\u201d. The United States was monitoring his location continuously, he said.<\/p>\n

At the right moment, Trump said, he directed the military to send dozens of heavily armed aircraft to rescue the crew member, who the president said is \u201cseriously wounded\u201d but will recover.<\/p>\n

Iranian state media reported that airstrikes in southwestern Iran on Saturday (local time) killed at least three people and wounded others, in the same area where the missing American crew member was believed to be.<\/p>\n

American rescuers face obstacles with aircraft during the operation<\/p>\n

The American rescue mission ran into major challenges behind enemy lines. Iran\u2019s joint military command claimed it struck two US Black Hawk helicopters taking part in the operation.<\/p>\n

A person familiar with the situation said the two helicopters were able to navigate to safe airspace, although it\u2019s unclear if they landed or if crew members were injured. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.<\/p>\n

Then, the US military was forced to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue of the second service member due to a technical malfunction, according to a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission. The US blew up two transport planes it was forced to leave behind because of the mishap, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s state television on Sunday (local time) aired a video showing what it claimed were parts of a US aircraft shot down by Iranian forces, along with a photo of thick, black smoke rising. The broadcaster said Iran had shot down a transport plane and two helicopters that were part of the rescue operation.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s joint military command said the destroyed aircraft included two C-130 military transport aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters in the province of Isfahan, where the rescue took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Trump said on social media.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump during a prime-time address to the nation in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

A second US military jet also was shot down<\/p>\n

Trump, however, did not mention that a second military jet also went down the same day as the F-15E.<\/p>\n

Iranian state media said Friday (local time) that a US A-10 attack aircraft crashed after being struck by Iran\u2019s defence forces.<\/p>\n

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation, confirmed a second US Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East on Friday (local time).<\/p>\n

An additional US pilot was rescued but details were not available given the security concerns, another person familiar with the situation said.<\/p>\n

Neither provide more information, including whether it was the A-10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was shot down by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-365857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-middle-east","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-north-america","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}