American special operations forces extracted a seriously wounded Air Force colonel from the mountains of Iran after he evaded capture for more than a day, climbing to a ridgeline 7,000 feet above sea level while Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members closed in on his position. President Donald Trump announced the successful rescue on social media Sunday, calling it "one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History."
The weapons systems officer had been aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing, based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, when the jet was shot down inside Iran on Friday. His pilot was recovered quickly. But the Pentagon and White House refused to confirm that first rescue while a second, far more dangerous mission to find the colonel was still underway.
What followed was a sprawling, multi-day operation involving hundreds of American military and intelligence personnel, Army Delta Force, Navy SEAL Team Six, CIA operatives, and dozens of aircraft, all converging on hostile terrain to bring one man home.
The colonel ejected from the stricken F-15E and sustained serious injuries. Despite those wounds, he moved through the Zagros Mountains, scaling a ridge to roughly 7,000 feet, where he tucked himself into a crevice to avoid Iranian search parties, the New York Post reported. He carried an emergency beacon, and for approximately 36 hours he stayed hidden while Iranian forces scoured the area.
Trump described the officer as "really brave" and said he had been "deep inside the mountains of Iran." The president spent Friday in the West Wing, moving between the Oval Office and its adjacent dining room to receive updates. On Saturday, he skipped his usual trip to the golf course and remained at the White House, monitoring the operation from the Situation Room as forces converged on the mountainside.
The administration's decision to keep the first pilot's rescue quiet was deliberate. Announcing it would have confirmed to Tehran that a second crew member was still unaccounted for, and still hiding somewhere in those mountains.
While special operators prepared to move in, the CIA mounted a deception effort designed to confuse the Iranian search. American intelligence operatives circulated information inside Iran suggesting both crew members had already been recovered, CNN reported, citing two U.S. officials who described the operation afterward. The goal was to slow or redirect the Iranian pursuit.
The agency also used the airman's emergency beacon and its own tracking capabilities to pinpoint his exact location, then passed that intelligence to the military. Retired CIA Operations Officer Scott Uehlinger told Fox News that the rescue relied on advanced CIA "burst" communication technology to help locate and protect the missing American, Fox News reported.
The scale of the deception and intelligence effort underscores a simple fact that critics of American power projection often overlook: the United States retains the capability to operate covertly inside a hostile nation, under fire, and still bring its people home. That capability does not maintain itself. It requires sustained investment in special operations, intelligence infrastructure, and the political will to use them, priorities that have faced skepticism in recent budget debates. The Trump administration has consistently pushed for robust defense spending even as congressional Democrats have objected to the broader fiscal picture.
The rescue itself was no clean lift. Two MC-130J special operations transport aircraft had been waiting at a remote airstrip inside Iran to extract the commandos and the rescued airman. Both planes sustained damage during the operation. Two Black Hawk helicopters also reportedly came under fire, the Associated Press reported.
Military commanders faced a stark choice: attempt to fly the damaged MC-130Js out, or destroy them on the ground. They chose the latter. The planes were blown up rather than risk advanced American military hardware falling into Iranian hands. Replacement aircraft were sent in to complete the extraction.
The New York Post reported the operation involved dozens of aircraft, including MQ-9 Reaper drones, and roughly 100 special operations troops led by SEAL Team Six, with Delta Force and Army Rangers on standby. More than 100 special forces personnel and bombers participated in the broader effort.
Israel played a supporting role. An Israeli official told CNN that Israel postponed some planned strikes inside Iran to avoid interfering with the American search-and-rescue mission. Two Israeli sources said their country also offered intelligence support. That kind of real-time coordination between allies in an active combat zone speaks to the depth of the U.S.-Israel military relationship, a relationship the Trump administration has invested in reinforcing on multiple fronts.
The president's engagement with the operation was hands-on. Trump spent Friday receiving updates in the West Wing. Saturday, he stayed put at the White House. He watched from the Situation Room as forces closed in on the mountainside where the colonel was hiding.
On Sunday, Trump posted on social media: "WE GOT HIM!"
In a longer post, the president wrote:
"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, but was never truly alone."
He called the rescue "an AMAZING show of bravery and talent by all!" and said the officer had been "seriously wounded." Trump announced he would address reporters at a news conference in the Oval Office at 1 p.m. ET Monday. The president also wrote on Truth Social: "WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!"
Before extraction, the rescued officer reportedly said over the radio: "God is good." Those two words, after 36 hours of hiding wounded on an enemy mountainside, may be the most telling detail of the entire operation.
Former Rep. Pete King praised the mission in an interview with Newsmax, calling it "incredible" and a testament to American military courage.
"To go behind enemy lines when someone is about 7,000 feet up in a mountain range, and to be able to rescue him when the Iranians are coming, I mean, that was to me, it was phenomenal."
Former Rep. Jack Kingston called the rescue "extremely impressive" and described it as part of a broader display of U.S. strength, Newsmax reported.
The praise was bipartisan in the sense that no serious person could look at the facts and call the operation anything other than a success. Hundreds of Americans coordinated across multiple agencies, inside hostile territory, under fire, and brought their man home alive. The kind of operational backbone required to pull that off, the training pipeline, the intelligence architecture, the equipment, is built over years and sustained only through deliberate choices about national priorities. The Trump administration's approach to major federal projects has often drawn controversy, but on the military side, the investment showed its return on a mountainside in Iran.
Several key details remain unclear. The names of both the rescued weapons systems officer and the pilot have not been publicly released. The specific nature of the colonel's injuries beyond "seriously wounded" has not been disclosed. The exact cause of the damage to the two MC-130J transport planes has not been explained. And the precise location within Iran where the rescue took place has not been identified beyond the general description of mountainous terrain.
Trump told Axios that "thousands of these savages were hunting him down," referring to the Iranian forces searching for the downed officer. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was described as urgently combing the area. The full scope of the Iranian search effort, and how close they came to finding the colonel before American forces reached him, may not be known for some time.
The broader military campaign against Iran that produced the shootdown in the first place also continues. The White House and Pentagon have kept operational details tightly held, and the administration has signaled that more information will come in Trump's Monday address. The administration has faced legal and political friction on other major initiatives, but on this operation, the chain of command delivered.
This was not a routine mission. An American airman went down behind enemy lines in Iran, broke bones on ejection, hid wounded in a mountain crevice for a day and a half, and was pulled out alive by the most elite forces the United States fields. Two transport planes were destroyed on the ground to keep them out of enemy hands. Helicopters took fire. The CIA ran a deception campaign inside a hostile nation in real time. The president sat in the Situation Room and watched it happen.
The men and women who carried out this mission did not do it because a committee approved a memo. They did it because the United States still operates on a simple principle: you don't leave your people behind. That principle costs money, demands training, and requires leaders willing to give the order. On this weekend, all three were present.
