- A mechanical failure forced a risky extraction and destruction of American aircraft in Iran.
- The CIA carried out a deception campaign, jammed electronic devices and bombed roads to assist in the rescue.
- The airman authenticated his identity to avoid a possible Iranian trap for rescuers.
The rescue had been carried out with almost perfect precision. Under cover of darkness, American commandos drove deep into Iran, undetected, scaled a 7,000-foot ridge and brought a stranded American weapons specialist to safety, taking him to a secret rendezvous point before dawn Sunday.
Then everything stopped.
Two MC-130 planes that had transported some of the roughly 100 special operations forces to rugged terrain south of Tehran suffered mechanical failure and were unable to take off, a U.S. official said. Reutersspeaking on condition of anonymity.
Suddenly, elite commandos were at risk of being trapped behind enemy lines.
Their commanders made a high-risk decision and ordered additional planes to fly to Iran to extract the group in waves, a decision that left the elite commandos waiting for a tense couple of hours.
“If there was a ‘shit’ moment, it was that one,” said the official, who credited quick decision-making for saving the day. The official, along with others who spoke to Reuters for this story, were granted anonymity so they could speak candidly about the operation.
The bet worked. The rescue force withdrew in stages and US troops destroyed the disabled MC-130s and four additional helicopters inside Iran rather than risk leaving sensitive equipment behind.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The successful extraction ended one of the most dangerous episodes of the five-week conflict, averting what could have been a catastrophic loss of American life and easing a growing crisis for President Donald Trump as he weighs whether to escalate a war that has already killed thousands of people.
Downed pilot impacted and made contact
The rescued American weapons specialist was the second of two crew members of an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet that Iran said on Friday had been hit by its air defenses. The U.S. official said the plane was flying over Isfahan province when it was shot down and that the two airmen were ejected separately. The pilot was rescued while the second airman remained in Iran.
American aircrews are trained in Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) techniques if they are shot down behind enemy lines, but few speak fluent Persian and face the challenge of going undetected while seeking rescue.
A U.S. source familiar with some of the operational details said the U.S. officer, who Trump said held the rank of colonel, sprained his ankle and hid in a crevice at the top of a hill.
The official said the airman then established contact with the U.S. military and authenticated himself, a critical step to ensure rescue forces did not fall into a trap.
The CIA had previously carried out a deception campaign, hoping to confuse Tehran by planting information inside Iran that US forces had already located the missing airman and were moving him before the operation took place, a senior Trump administration official said.
But the US military took additional measures, jamming electronic devices and bombing key roads around the site to prevent people from approaching, the US source familiar with the planning said.
The source told Reuters that the planes ultimately sent to extract the airman and rescue forces were much smaller turboprop planes, capable of landing at small and relatively light airfields.
Throughout the operation, the White House, the Pentagon and the US military’s Central Command remained unusually silent. Trump was so relatively quiet that a local reporter went to check if he was at Walter Reed Hospital.
Once the mission was completed, Trump triumphed.
“Over the past few hours, the United States military conducted one of the most daring search and rescue operations in American history,” Trump said in a statement, adding that the airman was injured but “will be fine.”
American plane hit
The initial search effort met fierce resistance from Iran when it began on Friday, after the F-15 pilot was initially rescued.
Reuters reported on Friday that two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search were hit by Iranian fire but escaped Iranian airspace.
In a separate incident, a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter jet after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, officials said, although the extent of the crew’s injuries was unclear.
The conflict has killed 13 US military service members and more than 300 have been wounded, US Central Command says. Iran has not taken any American soldiers prisoner.
While Trump has repeatedly tried to portray the Iranian military as in tatters, its ability to repeatedly attack American aircraft is significant, military experts say.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said Saturday that the military used a new air defense system on Friday to attack a US fighter jet.
Reuters first reported US intelligence showing Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability.
Until just over a week ago, the United States could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal.
The status of about another third was less clear, but the strikes likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters sources said.
Trump, who appeared relieved after the successful rescue, used tough language on Sunday to threaten Tehran if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz for oil flows vital to the global economy.
