The second crew member of a two-seat F-15E fighter jet shot down over Iran on Friday (April 3) was rescued late Saturday (April 4), two U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News.
President Donald Trump also confirmed the rescue in a text message to NBC News, calling it “an Easter Miracle” and praising troops for their “strong, decisive” actions during the mission.
“The Iranians thought they had him, but it wasn’t even close,” Trump said. “And remember, we got two, but couldn’t talk about the first in that it would have highlighted that there was a second.”
Rescue crews pulled the airman pulled the airman from Iran safely and took him out of harm’s way late Saturday, according to the two officials.
“He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine,” Trump said in a separate post shared on Truth Social account, adding that the airman is a “highly respected Colonel.”
The pilot of the two-seat fighter jet had previously been located shortly after the crash took place. A senior Trump administration official confirmed that the CIA subterfuge’s assistant was crucial in the second crew member’s rescue.
The intelligence agency initially launched a deception campaign inside Iran, reporting that the airman had already been found alive by U.S. forces and moved on the ground to be taken out of Iran.
“While the Iranians were confused and uncertain of what was happening, the Agency used its unique, exquisite capabilities to search for — and find — the American,” the official said in a statement obtained by NBC News. “This was the ultimate ‘needle in a haystack,’ but in this case it was a brave American soul inside a mountain crevice, invisible but for CIA’s capabilities.”
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