Toye Faleye with ABC
The rescue of a U.S. airman trapped in Iran’s mountains unfolded over two tense days and has been described as one of the most daring missions in modern military history.
On Friday, an American F‑15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran, marking the first U.S. jet lost to enemy fire in the conflict.
While the pilot was rescued in a daylight raid, the second crew member, a colonel serving as the weapon systems officer, remained missing behind enemy lines.
For 48 hours, Iranian forces combed the rugged terrain, while the airman, wounded but alive, relied on survival training to evade capture.
He hid in rocky crevices, rationed water, and used his survival radio beacon sparingly to avoid detection.
U.S. satellites and reconnaissance drones eventually triangulated faint signals that narrowed down his location.
Late Sunday, U.S. officials confirmed the airman had been recovered in a complex operation that combined intelligence deception, special forces maneuvers, and fierce firefights. U.S.
Special Operations teams were inserted at night using stealth helicopters and trekked through mountainous terrain to reach the airman.
To shield the rescue corridor, A‑10 Warthogs and drones struck Iranian positions nearby, creating diversions and drawing attention away from the mission.
The danger was immense: Black Hawk helicopters came under fire, and two MC‑130J aircraft along with several MH‑6 Little Bird helicopters were deliberately destroyed to prevent them from being captured. Replacement aircraft had to be flown in under fire to complete the extraction.
The CIA played a pivotal role, launching a deception campaign inside Iran that fed false signals to mislead Iranian patrols while pinpointing the airman’s hiding place.
Once located, medics stabilized him on site using field surgery techniques before evacuation to a secure U.S. medical facility.
Regional allies provided refueling corridors and intelligence support, enabling the mission despite Iran’s air defenses. To prevent propaganda use, destroyed aircraft parts were bombed after the rescue.
President Donald Trump hailed the mission as “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. history,” declaring that “we will never leave an American warfighter behind.”
Officials noted it was the first time in modern military memory that two U.S. pilots were rescued separately, deep inside hostile territory.
The operation underscored both the dangers of the war and the extraordinary lengths the U.S. military will go to recover its people — even at the cost of aircraft, lives at risk, and heightened global tension.