US commandos deep inside Iran: Details of the rescue of the second pilot
US commandos deep inside Iran: Details of the rescue of the second pilot
2026-04-05 01:04
Shafaq News – Tehran/Washington
American media reports on Sunday revealed details of a rescue operation carried out by US special forces inside Iran to recover a weapons systems officer from the crew of an F-15E fighter jet that was shot down in the southwest of the country, after more than 24 hours of hiding in a mountainous area, amid air cover and intensive support operations.
The operation comes after the rescue of the first member of the fighter jet’s crew last Friday, the same day that Iran announced it had shot down the aircraft.
According to Axios, citing US officials, the officer, a colonel, was injured after parachuting and managed to hide in rugged mountainous terrain, avoiding Iranian Revolutionary Guard units that were searching for him, before commando forces succeeded in reaching him.
According to US press reports, the officer used secure, highly encrypted communication devices to coordinate with rescue teams, while advanced distress systems enabled the CIA and the Pentagon to pinpoint his location accurately despite the camouflage and pursuit operations.
The New York Times reported that the operation was carried out last night, Saturday, with the participation of hundreds of special operations forces, dozens of warplanes and helicopters, in addition to advanced intelligence, cyber and space capabilities to locate the officer.
On the ground, US aircraft launched raids on Iranian forces that tried to approach the area where the officer was hiding, according to informed sources.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that HH-60 helicopters conducted low-altitude sorties in mountainous terrain amid Iranian ground fire, noting that a Black Hawk helicopter was hit but continued the mission and returned safely.
The newspaper added that US forces used drones to target Iranian elements who approached the officer’s location before the rescue operation was carried out.
According to the New York Times, the operation was not without material losses, as the American forces were forced to blow up two transport planes that had broken down during the operation at a temporary base inside Iran, to prevent their technology from falling into the hands of the Iranian forces, before all special forces withdrew from Iranian airspace.
In contrast, the Revolutionary Guard announced the downing of an American drone south of Isfahan, which it said was participating in search efforts, while Reuters reported that two Black Hawk helicopters were hit by Iranian fire during the operation and managed to leave Iranian airspace.
In a separate incident, officials reported that an A-10 Warthog fighter jet was hit and crashed over Kuwait after its pilot ejected, without clarifying the nature of the injuries among the crew members.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump described the rescue of the second crew member of the F-15 fighter jet that crashed inside Iran as one of the “most daring” search and rescue operations in US history, stressing that the US military deployed dozens of aircraft equipped with advanced weapons to recover a colonel who was behind Iranian forces’ lines in rugged mountains.
He pointed out that the pilots were rescued separately from deep within “enemy” territory, deliberately not announcing the rescue of the first in order to protect the second operation, considering that the success of the two missions proves the achievement of American air superiority in Iranian airspace.
The New York Times reported that two American transport planes broke down inside a remote base during the mission, and troops were ordered to blow them up on the spot to prevent them from being seized.
shafaq.com
