US EditionWhat We Know About the F-15 Pilot Who Survived Two Days on Iranian Mountain
The CIA spread false information to delay Iranian forces while U.S. rescuers found the second airman and extracted both crew members.
- On Sunday, April 5, 2026, U.S. forces successfully extracted a wounded Air Force colonel, the weapons systems officer of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle, from deep inside Iranian territory.
- Iranian air defenses brought down the F-15E near Dehdasht on April 3, 2026, forcing the colonel to evade capture for approximately 48 hours in the rugged Zagros Mountains.
- By planting false information that U.S. forces were already moving the airman, the CIA conducted a deception campaign that allowed teams time to pinpoint his actual mountain location.
- President Donald Trump confirmed the colonel is safe and recovering; the mission cost roughly $300 million after troops destroyed stranded aircraft at the site to prevent Iranian capture.
- While President Trump cited the successful rescue as proof of U.S. air dominance, Iranian state media claimed their forces destroyed several aircraft during the weekend operation.
33 Articles
33 Articles
DR MARC SIEGEL: Bleeding, alone and hunted -- a downed colonel’s miracle survival
How does someone — even a military hero with prodigious physical prowess and training — manage to survive approximately 36 to 48 hours in the mountainous terrain of southwestern Iran, likely without food and with little water?How does such a person live with the high chance of having sustained leg fractures or other lower-extremity injuries from being ejected from a plane traveling at high velocity?And how do Navy SEALs, Air Force Special Operat…
RECIT - In two operations combining professionalism and initiative; and playing a small dose of luck, the American commandos managed to find and extract the crew of the F-15 shot down Friday near Ispahan, Iran.
A mountain hideout and aircraft under fire: US carries out daring rescue of service member in Iran - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports
(AP) — The United States pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran, plucking the pilot from behind enemy lines before setting off a complicated extraction of the second service member who hid deep in the mountains as Tehran called for Iranians to help capture him. The CIA looked to throw off Iran’s government before the crew member was found, launching a deception campaign to spread word inside the Islami…
The second American soldier on board the fateful F-15E jet was alone in a remote area of Iran for more than a day.
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