“Safe and sound”. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that the second crew member of the fighter plane shot down by Iran was rescued by US military forces this Sunday “in enemy territory.”
The US F-15E fighter with two soldiers on board was shot down by Iranian artillery this Friday in the south of the country.
The pilot was rescued on Saturday, while the second crew member was missing, triggering a frantic search against time by US and Iranian forces, which even offered a ransom for his capture.
Another US fighter plane, an A-10 Warthog that was participating in the search and rescue mission along with two helicopters to recover the crew, was attacked, causing its pilot to eject over the Persian Gulf, where he was rescued, according to CBS, a partner of the BBC in the US.
Iran has claimed responsibility for shooting down the two American planes.
“WE HAVE RECOVERED IT! Dear compatriots, in the last few hours, the United States Army has carried out one of the most daring search and rescue operations in US history,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network.
Trump described the missing crew member as “a highly respected colonel,” and said “this brave warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, pursued by our enemies.”
According to the president, US forces “were monitoring his location 24 hours a day,” and he was delighted to be able to affirm that “he is now SAFE AND SAFE!”
The soldier, however, “has suffered injuries, but will recover without problems,” Trump announced.
This “miraculous” mission follows the rescue of “another brave pilot” yesterday, of which Trump stated that “we did not confirm it, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation.”
“WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN FIGHTER BEHIND!” the president wrote.
Great display
US officials had confirmed to US media on Saturday that the F-15E had been shot down and that the pilot was rescued, but the White House had not officially commented.
In that first rescue operation, the helicopter carrying the rescued F-15E pilot was, in turn, hit by small arms fire, causing injuries to the crew members on board, CBS said.
It is believed that the missing crew member could be found in the mountainous area of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, in southwestern Iran.
According to Iranian media, a US drone searching for the missing crew member was shot down in the province of Isfahan in southern Iran by forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The United States has not yet confirmed this information.
Trump did not offer many details of how the rescue operation had been carried out, but he did say that “the United States Army sent dozens of planes, armed with the most lethal weapons in the world, to rescue him,” which suggests that the deployment was extensive.
He also assured that no American soldiers had died in the rescue operation which, according to him, “demonstrates, once again, that we have achieved overwhelming dominance and air superiority over the Iranian skies.”
However, the incident highlights the risks that US and Israeli aircraft continue to face over Iran, despite President Donald Trump’s claims that the US has close watch over Iranian skies.
Even so, this is a moment “of great relief” for Trump, analyzes BBC Data reporter from Dubai, Lorna Gordon, since if Iran had managed to capture the pilot, Washington would have faced a complicated prisoner of war situation, with Tehran using the US military for propaganda purposes.
Search against the clock
After the downing of the F-15E and the disappearance of the crew member, the US and Iran began a race against time to locate him.
Yadollah Rahmani, governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in southern Iran, said the priority is to capture any American crew members alive.
“Those who manage to capture or eliminate hostile enemy forces will receive a special decoration from the governor’s office,” he said, according to a report by the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Iranian media also reported that merchants in the province were offering a reward of 10 billion Tomans (around US$66,000) to anyone who found the American “intruder.”
The speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, mocked the US on his X account after learning that the fighter plane had been shot down
“After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant war without strategy that they started has gone from being a ‘regime change’ to an easy ‘can anyone find our pilots? Why need it?'” he said.
The pilot and crew of American fighter jets are highly trained in case the aircraft is shot down over “enemy territory.”
“Their number one priority is to stay alive and avoid being captured,” Jennifer Kavanagh, senior researcher and director of military analysis at the think tank, told the BBC. Defense Priorities.
“That’s why they’re trained to — assuming they’re physically capable and not so injured that they can’t move — to try to get away from the ejection site as quickly as possible and hide to safety.”
They are also trained in survival techniques to be able to go without food or water or find resources in the native terrain for as long as possible, Kavanagh added.
Little clarity and questions
President Trump has boasted of talks with the Iranian regime, although Tehran has denied any contact with his administration.
When the information about the downing of the F-15E became known, the NBC news network noted that President Donald Trump had stated that this incident would not affect negotiations with Iran to end the war.
According to that American media, in a brief telephone interview the president was asked if the events of this Friday would have any repercussions and he responded: “No, not at all. No, this is war. We are at war.”
However, the Wall Toll road Journal reported that efforts to reach a ceasefire have reached a stalemate as Iranian officials are unwilling to meet with their American counterparts.
Mutual threats have only escalated.
This Saturday, Trump threatened to unleash “hell” on Iran if this country does not reach an agreement or open the Strait of Hormuz in the next 48 hours.
Subsequently, Iranian military officials stated that “the entire region will become hell” for the United States and Israel if military actions against Iran intensify.
The possibility of American casualties, as the downing incident has demonstrated, could complicate Trump’s efforts to reassure the American public, particularly those who have been alarmed by the prospect of a protracted and chaotic conflict abroad, of the kind Trump campaigned against.
Some commentators and political experts are already publicly questioning the usefulness of putting American lives at risk for a conflict that they believe has ill-defined and rapidly evolving objectives and an unclear strategy for ending the war.
The Trump administration initially stated that its goal was to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, but has since also included among its goals the destruction of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and navy, as well as reducing its support for proxy groups in the region.
Polls have consistently shown that American public opinion is broadly opposed to the war and the Trump administration’s management of it.
Analysis by Ione Wells, BBC correspondent
This is the first known case of a US fighter jet being shot down over Iran during this conflict. Three F-15Es were shot down by accidental friendly fire from Kuwaiti air defenses early in the war.
Why is it important?
First, this comes after Donald Trump and his Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, have repeatedly suggested that the United States has won the war.
Hegseth and military commanders have talked of “air superiority” and the deterioration of Iranian air defenses.
Trump stated that Iran “cannot do anything” about the US planes that fly over its territory.
That rhetoric now seems overconfident. This shows that Iran still retains – although probably in a limited and very reduced way – the ability to defend its airspace.
Second, this comes at a time when the United States has been threatening further escalation while expressing hopes for a deal.
This could be used as a pretext to accelerate US escalation in retaliation.
It could also increase concern among the American public that more and more of their country’s military will be affected by this war, at a time when the Trump administration has reportedly been considering a possible ground invasion, which would significantly increase the risk to American personnel.
What role do the F-15s play in the conflict?
The F-15 Eagle (Eagle) of the US Air Force are dual-role fighters designed for air-to-ground and air-to-air missions.
“In Iran, they have probably been used in air defense missions to shoot down Iranian drones and cruise missiles,” said BBC Data weapons systems analyst Chris Partridge.
He explained that in its air-to-ground attack role, the aircraft is a weapons platform capable of delivering precision laser- and GPS-guided munitions, as well as other bombs.
The aircraft has two crew members: the pilot, who controls the plane, and a weapons systems officer, who sits in the back seat.
The officer, known as “Wizzo,” has four screens and is responsible for selecting targets and ensuring weapons are correctly programmed for the appropriate attack profile.
This two-crew system allows the workload to be distributed, especially in congested air environments where the pilot is trying to evade threats.
Partridge explained that, although the specific means of carrying out the alleged downing of a plane of this type by the Iranians is still unknown, it was most likely with the use of a surface-to-air missile (SAM).
“ Short-range, infrared-guided man-portable air defense systems (Manpads) represent a serious threat in Iran due to their rapid mobility. The use of flares launched by target aircraft is the most common method to try to counter SAMs,” he said.
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