President Donald Trump on Monday described a complex U.S. military rescue operation that recovered two crew members who ejected from a downed F-15 fighter jet and landed in Iran.
“It’s a hard decision to make, but in the United States military, we leave no American behind,” Trump said.
The rescue effort began Friday after the aircraft was hit by a handheld, heat-seeking shoulder missile, according to Trump. The operation included 155 aircraft — 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers and 13 rescue aircraft, among others.
Trump said some aircraft were flown in specific areas to mislead Iranian forces searching for the downed crew, creating the impression they were in one location while they were actually elsewhere.
One pilot was rescued during a daylight mission on Friday. Though officials said the operation was not without challenges.
A U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft supporting the mission was hit by enemy fire while engaging Iranian forces, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday.
Caine said the A-10 pilot was “violently suppressing and engaging the enemy in a close-in gun fight to keep them away” from the downed F-15 pilot and was also “primarily responsible for communicating with the downed pilot.”
After the aircraft was hit, “this pilot continued to fight, continued the mission, and then upon exit, flew his aircraft into another country and determined that the airplane was not landable,” Caine said.
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The pilot then ejected over friendly territory and, according to Caine, “was quickly and safely recovered, and is doing fine.”
The second service member, a weapons officer, was rescued in a nighttime operation on Easter Sunday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the officer activated an emergency transponder, and his first transmitted message was: “God is good.”
Trump said the officer followed training by moving into mountainous terrain and climbing to a higher altitude to evade capture before being rescued.
“We flew for seven hours in daylight over Iran to get the first pilot, and we flew seven hours in the middle of the night to get the second, and Iran did nothing about it,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
The rescue comes as Trump has set a Tuesday night deadline for Iran to reach a deal to stop the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz.
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Iran has shown no signs of agreeing to a ceasefire. If Iran does not comply with Trump’s deadline, he said, “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”
Trump has swept aside concerns that he would be committing war crimes by targeting Iran's energy and civilian infrastructure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
