Iran 'got lucky,' downed F-15 with a shoulder-fired missile

Trump to Israeli TV: We were afraid downed US airman had been captured

US president says crew member sent unusual message raising concerns of ambush lure, notes Israel helped with extraction; US blew up its two C-130 planes after they got stuck in sand

The US was concerned that the Iranians had taken its downed weapons systems operator hostage, and were forcing him to try to lure American rescue forces into an ambush, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, hours after the missing service member was rescued.

The president also confirmed Israel played a role in the rescue operation, though there were conflicting reports on what that involved.

Trump, as quoted by Barak Ravid of Channel 12 news and the Axios outlet, said that the crewman gave a short, unusual message over his radio after ejecting from the aircraft over Iran early on Friday. “He said: ‘God is good.’ We suspected that maybe the Iranians had captured him, because that sounded like something a Muslim would say.”

“We suspected that the Iranians were sending us fake signals and that it was a trap. In the end, we managed to confirm that it was really him. People who know him also said he is a very religious guy,” Trump went on.

Trump said that the Iranian military downed the F-15, with its two-man crew, using a shoulder-fired missile. “They got lucky.”

It was the first US aircraft to be downed by Iranian fire since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28.

“We rescued the pilot [on Friday] quickly, in daylight,” Ravid quoted Trump telling him. “That’s something that isn’t generally done. We are better at night operations. There was a lot of shooting in the first rescue operation.”

Extracting the second airman took longer.

Trump said that “thousands of these savages were hunting him down,” using what Ravid described as a loaded term to refer to members of the Iranian military. “Even the population was looking for him. They offered people a bonus if they captured him.”

But the crewman managed to hide in a crevice in the mountainside. The US located him with technological means, Trump said.

“Other countries would not have endangered 200 soldiers and 10 aircraft for one soldier. But we did it,” Ravid quoted Trump saying.

Trump noted that Israel helped “a little bit” in the rescue operation, but most of it was American. The Israelis “have been good partners. They have been great and brave people. We are like a big brother and little brother,” Trump said.

Ravid quoted unnamed American officials saying Israel’s assistance was with intelligence on the general area where the rescue operation unfolded, and not specifically regarding the crewman.

“The two crew members were spread apart by a couple of miles,” Ravid quoted a US defense official as saying. “Hundreds of IRGC soldiers were everywhere.”

He also quoted Israeli officials saying the Israeli Air Force conducted one strike to prevent Iranian forces from reaching the area.

Trump announced early Sunday that the US had rescued the second aviator nearly two days after he was shot down over Iran.

The extraction came after a frantic search in what appears to be a remote, mountainous region of Iran.

“This is the first time in military memory that two US Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!”

Search behind enemy lines

The weapons systems officer was unconscious and lightly concussed from his landing, and therefore was unable to make initial contact with US forces after ejecting and landing in Iran on Friday morning, Channel 12 reported.

At noon, Israel time, he made contact from the highest point he could find to avoid being captured.

He then walked 10-12 kilometers (6-7.5 miles), hid in a crevice, and on Friday night sent a specific location, the report said.

Israel refrained from attacking in that area and helped with specific intelligence, the sources said. That contradicts American accounts, which said Israel provided only general intelligence assistance.

However, over Friday and Saturday, Israel was asked by the US to assist in ensuring air supremacy in the area, and attacked “relevant targets,” the network said.

The extraction operation began with a deception campaign launched by the CIA, a senior US administration official said Sunday.

Before locating the airman, the CIA spread word inside Iran that US forces had already found him and were moving him on the ground for exfiltration, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public. The campaign managed to confuse Iranian officials while the agency conducted its search and rescue operations, the official said.

Those operations involved “dozens of aircraft,” armed with lethal weaponry, Trump wrote on Truth Social. Iran had promised a sizable reward to anyone who captured the service member.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump added.

Airman wounded but expected to recover

Trump said the airman held the rank of colonel and had been seriously wounded. Nonetheless, Trump said he would be “just fine.”

Trump gave no details about the first crewman’s condition. A US source familiar with some of the operational details told Reuters the American officer sprained his ankle.

Navy SEAL Team 6 commandos, best-known for taking part in the 2011 operation to kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, were tasked with extracting the airman, while US attack aircraft provided cover, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials.

The airman was rescued as Iranian forces converged on the spot, as US forces fired their weapons to keep them at bay, reports said.

Trump claimed no American lives were lost.

The US destroyed 2 planes during the getaway

Ahead of the rescue, the Americans took control of some kind of mini-airfield or agricultural field and secured it, according to the Channel 12 report. Two US C-130 planes with Little Bird helicopters landed there.

The helicopters then flew to extricate the crewman from his hiding place and returned with him, in “exhausted” condition, to the secured field.

When the aircraft were taking off, the C-130s got stuck in the sand and were unable to lift off. Three lighter aircraft were called in, and they evacuated the crewman and the rest of the 90-strong rescue team, the report said.

US warplanes then blew up the C-130s, as later seen in Iranian propaganda footage, so that they would not fall intact into Iranian hands.

Iran’s state TV showed a picture of black smoke from what it said was a destroyed American transport plane and two helicopters.

Although Iran’s military claimed the US operation was “completely foiled,” it has not given a full account of events.

Military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari told state media that US forces had used an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province, which lies to the northwest of the area where the airman ejected.

He said the aircraft had been taking part in “a deception and escape mission… under the pretext of recovering the pilot of a downed aircraft.”

The governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province told Mehr news agency that five people had been killed and seven wounded in the Kuh-e Siah mountain area.

But the governor, Iraj Kazemijou, denied reports that US forces had landed there, saying they were “completely false and have no validity.”