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Trump's health update on US F-15 jet crew member rescued from Iran: A colonel, seriously wounded, taken to Kuwait
“He is a highly respected Colonel,” Trump wrote in his second post on the issue. The F-15E, which was downed, is a two-seater plane; pilot was rescued already.
“Seriously wounded" and "really brave” is how US President Donald Trump described the American airman rescued from Iran on Sunday, two days after an F-15E fighter jet of the US military was shot down in the ongoing war.
“He is a highly respected Colonel,” Trump further wrote in what was his second post on the matter.
The F-15E is a two-seater plane, and the pilot had already been rescued.
It was the weapons officer who was rescued on Sunday.
Also read | 'Open the f-ing strait': Trump's 'living in hell' warning 24 hours before April 6 deadline
Trump in his post said the officer was rescued “from deep inside the mountains of Iran”. He claimed the Iranian forces was “looking hard, in big numbers, and getting close”.
“This type of raid is seldom attempted because of the danger to 'man and equipment.' It just doesn’t happen!” Trump further claimed.
He also gave a slight insight into how the pilot was rescued on Friday.
“The second raid [to rescue the weapons officer] came after the first one, where we rescued the pilot in broad daylight, also unusual, spending seven hours over Iran,” he wrote, and announced he would hold a press conference on Monday. He described the rescue ops as an “amazing show of bravery and talent by all”.
Follow | Live updates on US-Iran war
It was not clear where the pilot was now, but the weapons officer — whom Trump identified only as "a highly respected Colonel" in his first post on Sunday — has been flown to Kuwait for medical treatment where the US has a military base.
"He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine," Trump wrote earlier in the day, while his second post said the injuries are serious.
His exact identity has not been disclosed by US authorities, nor has any information been released about the pilot who was rescued first, on Friday, shortly after the aircraft was downed.
What we know about the rescue
US special forces conducted the rescue mission for the colonel using "a specialized commando unit with a high volume of air cover", according to three US officials who spoke to Axios.
Also read | How US airman hid behind enemy lines in Iran: A beacon, a 7,000-ft climb, and nearly two days before rescue
At least two US transport aircraft malfunctioned at a staging base inside Iran during the operation; commanders flew in three replacement aircraft, extracted all personnel, and destroyed the disabled planes on the ground to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, as per US officials.
The Navy SEAL Team Six — the unit that conducted Operation Neptune Spear, killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011 — carried out the extraction, supported by US Air Force special warfare personnel and multiple layers of combat air cover.
How he survived nearly two days
When the F-15E was struck, the colonel ejected and landed in mountainous terrain in southwestern Iran. Following standard SERE — Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape — training, his first move was to distance himself from the wreckage, which enemy forces would target first.
He then climbed a ridgeline rising to 7,000 feet, taking cover in a mountain crevice. A senior American military official told the New York Times that the terrain made this “one of the most challenging rescues in US special operations history”.
The colonel had a handgun, survival rations, a beacon, and a secure communications device, and used the beacon sparingly, knowing Iranian forces could track the same signal.
CIA's shadow ops
Before the Pentagon moved in, the US spy agency CIA ran a parallel deception operation, "spreading word inside Iran that US forces had already found him and were moving him on the ground for exfiltration," a senior Trump administration official told CBS News. While Iranian forces scrambled in confusion, the CIA used what a senior official described to Axios as "unique capabilities" to locate the colonel inside his mountain crevice.
His exact coordinates were then passed to the Pentagon and the White House.
"This was the ultimate needle in a haystack," the official told Axios, "but in this case it was a brave American soul inside a mountain crevice, invisible but for CIA's capabilities."
What Iran says
Iran's IRGC spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari dismissed American triumphalism.
"Trump tries to justify the bitter defeat of his feeble army by creating confusion for public opinion," he said, according to reports.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards also claimed to have shot down two C-130 transport aircraft involved in the operation, as well as striking two Black Hawk helicopters in the initial hours of the search — claims the US has not confirmed.
Trump's threat
Trump, meanwhile, followed up on the pilot rescue with another warning to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil trade, or face “hell”.
A day before his April 6 deadline, US President Donald Trump went all out against Iran, saying “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day”, even as he warned of “nothing like it” attacks against the Iranian infrastructure in retaliation to the Strait of Hormuz blockade.
Trump had threatened Iran on March 21 to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if it failed to reopen the strait, but later gave extensions to his “deadline” as some initiatives were made for negotiations by Pakistan and other mediators.
On Sunday, though, Trump wrote: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah."
