WASHINGTON: US commandos deployed to Iranian territory to rescue a downed airman, US media reported on Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump announced that the crew member had been recovered “safe and sound”.
Tehran said this week that it had shot down an F-15 fighter jet, the first US fighter jet to crash inside Iran since the start of the war. Washington has not confirmed the details of how the fighter went down.
Trump said early Sunday that the US military had “conducted one of the most daring search and rescue operations in the United States.” [US] Story, to one of our amazing Officer Crew Members, who is also a highly respected Colonel and who I am delighted to report is now safe and well!
Navy Seal Team 6 commandos were tasked with extracting the airman, while U.S. attack planes dropped bombs and opened fire on Iranian convoys to keep them away, the New York Times reported, citing an unnamed official.
The airman, a weapons systems officer, was injured after ejection but was still able to walk, evading capture in the mountains for more than a day, according to media outlet Axios, which cited a U.S. official.
The unidentified airman was equipped with a gun, a beacon and a secure communication device to coordinate with rescuers, the New York Times reported.
The American commandos who converged on the officer fired their weapons to keep the Iranian forces away from the rescue site, the Times said.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he had ordered the US military to send “dozens of planes, armed with the world's most lethal weapons, to recover it.”
“He suffered injuries, but he will be fine,” Trump wrote.
Two of the planes meant to transport the airman and his rescuers to safety became trapped at a remote base in Iran and had to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, the New York Times and CBS reported.
U.S. forces then used three more transport planes to get the airman and his rescuers out of Iran.
The Iranian military said Sunday that the U.S. operation to rescue the airman had used an abandoned airport in the southern province of Isfahan.
“The so-called US military rescue operation, planned as a hit-and-run mission at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan under the pretext of recovering the pilot of a downed plane, was completely foiled,” said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Iranian military's central command.
Zolfaghari also said that “two US C-130 military transport aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters were destroyed.”
The CIA reportedly launched a deception campaign to spread the word inside Iran that U.S. forces were grounding the airman out of the country.
In his post, Trump also confirmed the “successful rescue of another brave pilot yesterday,” adding that it was not disclosed to avoid jeopardizing the second rescue mission.
“This is the first time in military history that two American servicemen[US] “The pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory,” he wrote, adding that both operations concluded “without a SINGLE American being killed or even injured.”
AFP has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment.
