The second crew member of a downed F-15E fighter jet has been rescued from an Iranian mountain by US commandos, ending a two-day search after the warplane crashed in south-west Iran. The crew member, a colonel and weapons systems officer, had been wounded but was successfully rescued from a mountain hideout by US special forces, Donald Trump announced in a social media post.
The US president called it “one of most daring search-and-rescue operations in US history” and claimed that not a single American had been killed or wounded. Trump said he would hold a press conference on Monday to provide more detail. In a subsequent post, he threatened Iran with the bombing of its power plants and bridges if Tehran did not open the Strait of Hormuz to merchant shipping.
Once located hiding in the mountains, having at one point climbed a 7,000ft ridge, the colonel was rescued by a 200-strong special forces team under heavy covering fire. Three Revolutionary Guards were killed, according to Iranian sources. Iran’s military said it had destroyed four US aircraft involved in the search operation, including two modified Hercules transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters, and claimed to have shot down a Reaper and Hermes-900 drone.
The pilot of the aircraft had been rescued on Friday, after the F-15E Strike Eagle became the first US plane to be downed over Iran during the five-week-long war. The CIA took more than a day to locate the missing airman and launched a disinformation campaign in Iran to give the impression that he had been found in order to fool Iranian forces. Uncrewed Reaper drones were used to protect the crew member once located, striking Iranian military-aged males believed to be a threat within three kilometres.
