US President Donald Trump yesterday said that US forces had safely recovered a second pilot downed in Iran, calling it one of the most daring search-and-rescue operations in US history.
However, Iran said it had “completely foiled” the rescue operation, without saying it had captured the US serviceman or denying that US forces had extracted him.
The US announcement came as Trump warned the Islamic republic had until today to cut a deal or face “all Hell.”
Photo: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp via Sepah News / AFP
The war, which erupted on Feb. 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has engulfed the Middle East and convulsed the global economy.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the pilot had been “behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies.”
“He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine,” he said. “This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation.”
The pilot, a weapon systems officer, was equipped with a pistol, a beacon and a secure communications device to coordinate with rescuers, the New York Times reported.
Two of the planes meant to transport him and his rescuers to safety were stuck in a remote base in Iran and had to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, the New York Times and US broadcaster CBS reported.
US forces then used three other transport planes to carry the pilot and his rescuers out of Iran, the reports said.
Iran’s military said it had destroyed four US aircraft involved in the operation, which it said had made use of an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan Province.
Iranian media reported that five people were killed in strikes during the operation.
Footage released by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was presented as showing charred wreckage of a US aircraft scattered across a desert area, with smoke still rising.
Iran has said its forces downed the fighter jet from which the crew ejected, while US media reported only that the plane had been shot down.
The US has not said publicly if it was downed or not.
Iran has virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, a vital conduit for oil and gas, and kept up a campaign of strikes on Israel and its Gulf neighbors.
Oman’s state news agency said the country, which shares control over the strait with Iran, was holding talks with the Islamic republic on easing passage.
“The experts from both sides put forward a number of visions and proposals regarding it,” it said.
Critical infrastructure across the Gulf came under attack from Iran yesterday with damage reported at civilian facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.
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