Donald Trump announced on Sunday, April 5, on his Truth Social network that the second crew member of the F-15e fighter-bomber that crashed in Iran on Friday, April 3, was rescued by the US military.
The stakes were high for both the United States and Iran. Since Friday, April 3, both countries had been in a race to find the second crew member of the American F-15E fighter-bomber that crashed in southwest Iran. Donald Trump finally announced on Sunday, April 5 that he was rescued during a rescue operation. “We found him!”, he exclaimed in a post on his Truth Social account.
The rescued soldier injured but “safe and sound”
The rescued member of the F15-E crew, “a very respected colonel,” is “SAFE AND SOUND,” Donald Trump emphasized on Truth Social. The US president, however, added that he was injured but specified that he “will survive.”
According to the American media Axios, citing official sources, this crew member, an officer in charge of the aircraft’s weapon systems, was injured after his emergency ejection from the plane. However, he was still able to walk and thus avoid being captured by the Iranians.
“This brave warrior was behind enemy lines, in the rugged mountains of Iran, pursued by our enemies who were closing in on him hour after hour,” added Donald Trump.
“Dozens of aircraft” involved in the operation
Donald Trump described the extraction of the F15-E pilot as “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in US history” and according to him, it involved “dozens of aircraft.”
According to Axios, the rescue operation, which involved exchanges of fire, was carried out by special forces specialized in this type of intervention with significant air cover. All the military personnel who participated in this mission have now left Iranian soil, added the American media.
The CIA involved in creating a smokescreen
Citing sources within the Trump administration, several American media outlets, including Axios and NBC, explain that the rescue operation was partly made possible by a CIA subterfuge.
Before the pilot’s extraction, the intelligence agency, according to one of these sources, spread the rumor in Iran that the soldier had already been found alive and was being evacuated from the country by land.
A previous rescue confirmed by Donald Trump
Since Friday, American media outlets reported that the first crew member of the downed F-15E had been rescued. Donald Trump had not yet confirmed this information, which he finally did on Sunday.
The US president justified this silence by the fact that he “did not want to compromise the second rescue operation.” “It is the first time, to the army’s memory, that two American pilots are safely rescued in enemy territory,” enthused Donald Trump, never short of hyperbole.
Iran claims to have shot down several American aircraft
According to Donald Trump, no Americans were killed or injured in the two rescue operations carried out since Friday, which proves to him “the undeniable air superiority (of the United States, editor’s note) in the Iranian sky.”
At the same time, the Revolutionary Guards claimed to have shot down several “enemy flying objects” during the recent American rescue mission and speak of five deaths on its territory in the strikes related to the pilot rescue operation.
According to the spokesperson for the unified command of the Iranian forces, cited by the Tasnim news agency, a C-130 refueling aircraft and two Blackhawk helicopters were shot down by Tehran.
