High-stakes US special forces mission rescues airman from Iran after F-15 crash

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - U.S. forces staged the audacious rescue of an airman behind enemy lines after Iran downed his fighter jet, officials said on Sunday, resolving a crisis for President Donald Trump as he weighs escalating the war, now in its sixth week.

The airman rescued by special operations forces, who Trump said was a colonel, was the weapons-systems officer on the downed F-15, a U.S. official told Reuters.

"Over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History," Trump said in a statement, adding that the airman was injured but "he will be just fine."

The officer was the second of two crew members on the warplane that Iran said on Friday had been brought down by its air defenses. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said several aircraft were destroyed during the U.S. rescue mission, Tasnim news agency reported.

Reuters reported on Friday that the first crew member had been retrieved, triggering a high-profile search by both Iran and the United States for the remaining airman.

Iranian officials had urged citizens to help find him, hoping to gain leverage against Washington in the war Trump and Israel launched on February 28.

Trump has threatened to escalate the conflict in the coming days with attacks on Iran's energy infrastructure.

Had Iran captured the airman, the ensuing hostage crisis could have shifted American public perception of a conflict that opinion polls show was already unpopular.

Trump said the airman was rescued "in the treacherous mountains of Iran" in what he said was the first time in military memory that two U.S. pilots had been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory.

The official told Reuters that as the weapons-systems officer was moved from near a mountain to a transport aircraft parked within Iran, U.S. forces had to destroy at least one of the aircraft because it had malfunctioned.

U.S. AIRCRAFT HIT

The rescue effort, involving dozens of military aircraft, encountered fierce resistance from Iran.

Reuters reported on Friday that two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search were hit by Iranian fire but escaped from Iranian airspace.

Separately, a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, the officials said, though the extent of crew injuries was unclear.

Still, Trump was triumphant.

"The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies," he said in his statement.

U.S. air crews are trained in what to do if they go down behind enemy lines, measures known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, but few are fluent in Persian and face a challenge in staying undetected while seeking rescue.

The conflict has killed 13 U.S. military service members, with more than 300 wounded, U.S. Central Command says. No U.S. troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.

While Trump has repeatedly sought to portray the Iranian military as being in tatters, they have repeatedly been able to hit U.S. aircraft.

Reuters reported on U.S. intelligence showing that Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability. Until just over a week ago, the U.S. could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about one-third of Iran's missile arsenal.

The status of about another third was less clear, but bombings probably damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters sources said.

The U.S. and Israeli war on Iran has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the global economy with soaring energy prices that are fueling fears of inflation.