The US military has rescued a missing crew member in a dramatic mission after his fighter jet was shot down in a remote part of Iran. The operation to extract him from the ground in hostile territory was highly complex, involving dozens of special forces, US warplanes, helicopters, and the CIA, according to US media reports.

The Incident and Initial Response

The ordeal began on Friday with reports that an F-15 jet, carrying a weapons systems officer and a pilot, had been shot down over southern Iran. This incident marked the first time a US fighter jet had been shot down by enemy fire in over 20 years. The two US military personnel on board the F-15E Strike Eagle managed to eject from the aircraft, and the pilot was rescued the same day, but the second crew member was missing.

Iran made it clear they wished to capture him alive and offered a bounty of £50,000 ($66,100); Videos shared on social media, which have not been verified by the BBC, appeared to show armed civilians searching for him. Once the officer was on the ground, he had only a handgun to defend himself, US officials said.

Rescue Operation and Deception

The airman would have received training for a situation like this, and it would have involved turning his symbol signal on, getting to high ground, concealing himself, and establishing communications. According to reports in US media. The airman hid himself in a mountain crevice and restricted the use of his symbol, concerned the signal could be picked up by Iran; he then reportedly waited for his rescuers to arrive.

The CIA played a central role in the rescue operation, according to a senior Trump administration official who spoke to US media — it was the US intelligence agency that tracked the airman’s exact location to the mountain crevice and passed the information along to the Pentagon. Trump said his location was monitored ’24 hours a day’ by US officials who were planning the rescue operation.

The officer was ‘being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,’ the president added — the CIA also ran a deception campaign, according to reports, spreading word inside Iran that US forces had already found the second airman.

Operation Details and Aftermath

Trump said in his Truth Social post that the US military ‘sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him.’ As US special forces made their way towards the stranded officer, bombs and weapons fire were used to keep Iranian troops away from his location, reports say.

US media also reported that two transport planes that were intended to fly out rescue crews were unable to take off from a remote base inside Iran, and were then destroyed to keep them out of enemy hands. Special forces then flew out on three extra aircraft to collect the crews, the reports added.

Footage and photos confirmed by BBC Verify appeared to show a smouldering aircraft wreckage in a mountainous area of central Iran, about 50km (30 miles) southeast of the city of Isfahan. Iran’s military said two US C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters were destroyed during the operation – and that ‘a deception and escape mission at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan…was completely foiled.’

Iranian state media said on Sunday that troops from the Islamic Major Guard Corps (IRGC) had shot down a US drone over Isfahan while it was searching for the missing airman. The BBC has not been able to confirm either version of events near Isfahan.

Before midnight US time the rescue was complete, and the airman was flown to Kuwait for medical treatment, officials said. Trump said the officer was ‘seriously wounded,’ but ‘he will be just fine.’ US authorities have not disclosed any information about the airman’s exact location when he was rescued, or his identity.