Published April 6, 2026
US President Donald Trump announced that the US military has rescued a missing US fighter jet crew member in Iran.
The air force officer went missing in a remote region of Iran after his F-15 fighter jet was shot down on Friday. Two crew members escaped from the plane. The pilot was quickly rescued by the US military, but a search had to be launched for the F-15’s weapons systems personnel.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, President Trump wrote that the United States had rescued a second “gravely injured and truly brave” airman from “deep in the mountains of Iran.” A gunfight was reported between U.S. and Iranian forces in Kogilye and Boyer Ahmad provinces before the rescue. However, Iran has not confirmed this.
Here’s how the complex rescue operation unfolded.
What does President Trump say about rescue?
The identity of the rescued airman has not been made public, but President Trump called him a “highly respected colonel.”
He added that the type of rescue operation that rescued him is “rarely attempted due to the danger to ‘personnel and equipment’.”
President Trump said two raids were conducted and the pilot was rescued in “bright daylight” during the second raid. It is unclear when exactly the pilot was rescued. The U.S. president wrote that the rescue mission was “unprecedented, spending seven hours in the air over Iran.”
In his post, President Trump said he would discuss the rescue operation in more detail during a press conference with the U.S. military in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday at 1 p.m. (1 p.m. Japan time).
President Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Although this brave warrior was behind enemy lines in Iran’s treacherous mountains, cornered by an enemy that was closing in on him by the minute, he was never alone as the Commander-in-Chief, the Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his fellow combatants monitored his position 24 hours a day and feverishly planned his rescue.”
Trump added that he had ordered the sending of dozens of planes carrying “lethal weapons” to rescue the airmen, who had managed to escape from Iranian forces for two days.
How did the search unfold?
On Friday morning, the United States confirmed that an F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over southern Iran. The F-15 is a tactical fighter aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force that first flew in 1972. The latest versions of the jet cost more than $90 million each.
Iranian state media aired photos of what was said to be the remains of an F-15 and what appeared to be an ejection seat with a parachute attached.
President Trump indicated that the United States knows the location of the plane’s second astronaut and is tracking him as the rescue operation unfolds.
Iran was also searching for the pilot. In what appears to be an attempt to secure American prisoners, the Iranian government called on the Iranian people to hand over the soldiers to authorities.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed on Sunday that Iranian forces also destroyed two C-130 aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters during an operation to rescue US airmen in the southern province of Isfahan.
What do we know about the two C-130s that Iran claims to have destroyed?
The C-130 Hercules and new C-130J Super Hercules variants were developed by American weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin. These are military transport aircraft primarily used for tactical airlift, troop transport, and medical evacuation.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the C-130 costs more than $100 million each.
The newspaper said in a report on Sunday that the United States had blown up a C-130 fighter jet on the ground during the rescue operation, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The anonymous official did not explain how the jet was shot down during the rescue operation, but told the outlet that it was necessary to destroy the jet to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
Has the United States lost other military assets or personnel?
yes. According to U.S. Central Command, 13 U.S. service members were killed and more than 300 injured in the conflict, but no U.S. soldiers were taken prisoner by Iran.
Since the start of the war on February 28, the United States has lost three F-15 jets in what it says were cross-fire incidents over Kuwait. A US military refueling plane also crashed over Iraq last month, killing all six people on board.
Before Friday’s F-15, the last U.S. fighter jet to be shot down by enemy fire was an A-10 Thunderbolt II during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. military said.
U.S. officials said at least one Black Hawk helicopter was struck during the initial rescue effort but managed to stay airborne.
On Friday, an A-10 Warthog plane also crashed near the Strait of Hormuz shortly after the F-15E, but the pilot was able to eject before crashing and was later rescued. Iranian media reported that the aircraft was attacked by Iranian defense systems.
Iran has not yet confirmed that a gunfight occurred before the rescue of the F-15 pilots. Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Assadi said gunfire appeared to have broken out in Kogilye and Boyer Ahmad provinces, where nine people were reported killed in “strikes”, but it was unclear whether this was linked to the U.S. rescue operation.
