US and Israeli Special Forces Rescue Downed F-15E Crew Member from Iranian Territory

US forces rescued the second crew member of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle from deep inside Iranian territory on April 5, 2026, completing a roughly 48-hour operation that involved hundreds of special operations personnel, Israeli commandos, a CIA deception campaign, and the destruction of two American transport aircraft to prevent their capture. The rescued officer, a Colonel and Weapons Systems Officer, was flown to Kuwait for medical treatment after sustaining serious injuries. The F-15E had been shot down on April 3, 2026, over southwestern Iran — the first US warplane lost to hostile fire since the Iraq war in 2003, according to The Guardian. The pilot of the aircraft had been rescued relatively quickly after the shootdown, but the second crew member remained missing for nearly two days, triggering what senior US military commanders described as one of the most complex special operations in American history.

CIA spread false convoy rumor to buy time The CIA played a central role in locating the officer and buying time for the rescue. According to the New York Times, the agency developed a deception plan that spread word inside Iran that the airman had already been found and was being transported out of the country in a ground convoy, with the aim of drawing Iranian search teams away from his actual location. The Wall Street Journal similarly reported that the CIA launched the disinformation campaign hours before the real extraction began. A senior administration official told the New York Times that the operation appeared to cause confusion and uncertainty among Iranian forces hunting for the airman. The CIA then used equipment described only as unique to the agency to pinpoint the officer's location and passed the coordinates to the Pentagon and White House. The airman had evaded capture for more than 24 hours by hiding in rocky terrain in the mountains of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, eventually climbing to a ridgeline at an altitude of approximately 2,000 to 2,100 meters and concealing himself in a crevice, armed with little more than a pistol and a secure communication device.

„We rescued the seriously injured and truly courageous F-15 crew member/officer from deep within the mountains of Iran. The Iranian military was searching for him persistently, in great numbers, and was closing in. He is a highly respected Colonel.” — Donald Trump via ANSA

Two C-130 transporters blown up to deny Iran a prize The extraction itself was far from clean. According to the New York Times, two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft that had been brought forward to a provisional landing zone south of Isfahan became stuck in the ground and could not take off. US forces destroyed both aircraft to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, and three additional transport planes were dispatched to complete the evacuation of the wounded officer and the rescue teams. An HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter involved in the operation was also damaged by Iranian gunfire but returned safely to base, according to an Israeli source cited by Iran International and reported by ANSA. The Guardian calculated that the cost of lost and damaged airframes likely exceeded $250 million, given that each modified C-130 Hercules carries a list price of nearly $115 million and an F-15E Strike Eagle costs $31 million. An Israeli source told Iran International that two Israeli elite units — Shaldag and Sayeret Matkal — participated in the rescue mission alongside US forces. US attack aircraft dropped bombs and opened fire on Iranian convoys throughout the operation to keep them away from the area where the airman was hiding, according to the New York Times.

Aircraft costs in the operation: F-15E Strike Eagle (before: Unit cost: $31 million, after: One aircraft lost (shot down April 3)); Modified C-130 Hercules (before: Unit cost: nearly $115 million each, after: Two aircraft destroyed by US forces to prevent capture)

Trump hails mission; Iran claims its own version of events US President Donald Trump announced the rescue on his Truth Social platform, describing the mission in emphatic terms.

„WE DID IT! Fellow citizens, in the last few hours, the United States Armed Forces carried out one of the boldest search and rescue operations in the history of the country, to rescue one of our incredible aircrew officers.” — Donald Trump via La Razón

Trump stated that no US personnel were killed or injured during the rescue itself, and that the operation had been monitored "around the clock" by US military leadership. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard's news agency Tasnim offered a conflicting account, claiming that Iranian forces had hit and destroyed two American Black Hawk helicopters, a C-130 transport aircraft, and several drones, publishing footage of burning wreckage, according to Tagesschau. The Guardian noted that the broader context of the shootdown and rescue serves as a reminder that US and Israeli air superiority over Iran, while overwhelming — with an estimated 300 to 500 strikes per day — is not absolute. The conflict between the US-Israeli coalition and Iran began on February 28, 2026, and the F-15E shootdown marked the first confirmed loss of a US warplane to hostile fire since the start of the campaign.

The US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury, began on February 28, 2026. The last time a US warplane was shot down by hostile forces before this incident was in 2003, during the Iraq war, according to The Guardian. The Guardian also noted that the US had 218 F-15E Strike Eagles and 55 C-130s in its special forces command before the Iran campaign began, citing the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The capture of American aircrew by Iran would have carried significant political weight, recalling the US embassy hostage crisis of 1979-80, which The Guardian noted did considerable damage to the presidency of Jimmy Carter.