President Donald Trump has revealed extraordinary new details about the daring rescue mission to extract a wounded US airman who spent almost 48 hours stranded in Iran.
The President on Monday described an all-hands-on-deck operation that employed 155 aircraft – including 64 fighter jets, 48 refuelling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, three helicopters ‘and more.’
Trump described ‘a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force’ as US forces swooped on mountainous terrain in southern Iran to rescue the weapons systems officer whose F-15E fighter jet went down on Good Friday.
‘He scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, contacted his platoon, treated his own wounds and contacted American forces,’ Trump said of the WSO, who was rescued on Easter Sunday.
Trump admitted that there were military officers who were opposed to the operation which he said risked hundreds of lives. ‘God was watching us,’ the President said. ‘We were in Easter territory.’
The pilot was rescued the day of the crash after both airmen ejected over enemy territory, but the weapons systems officer had remained missing.
Trump also lashed out at the media for reporting that the second airman was still missing, accusing outlets of alerting the Iranians to a target. He warned that ‘the person that did the story will go to jail’ if they refuse to reveal their source.
Trump revealed that US forces blew up their own planes before leaving because they had become bogged down in the makeshift runway at the extraction point.
Iran’s military said two US C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters were destroyed during the operation.
‘We blew up the old planes,’ Trump said. ‘We blew them up to smithereens.’
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‘It was sandy, wet sand, so we thought there may be a problem taking off because of the weight of the plane,’ he continued. ‘And then we also had all the men jumping back onto the planes, and they got pretty well bogged down.’
The President said US forces used a ‘farm not a runway’ to land and execute the search and rescue operation.
Trump said the US military had a ‘contingency plan’ for exactly that scenario, ‘which was pretty unbelievable. Where lighter, faster aircraft came in and they took them out.
He said the old planes were destroyed ‘because we had equipment on the planes’ they the US didn’t want in enemy hands.
‘We didn’t want anybody examining our anti-aircraft equipment and other equipment. So, these were large planes that were old, pretty old, and we blew them up,’ Trump divulged.
The President noted how the WSO was able to activate a ‘beeper’ that showed US forces where to search for him, leading to the airman’s rescue and likely saving the soldier’s life. ‘It was like finding a needle in a haystack,’ Trump said.
The downed airman first made contact by radioing in ‘God is good,’ Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recounted, adding ‘we leave no man behind.’
The plane’s callsign was ‘Dude 44,’ said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine, with scores of aircraft scrambled within hours.
Caine praised the swift recovery of the pilot on Friday and the planning that went into rescuing the WSO.
The general said a special operations force fought their way in to extract the downed WSO in the early hours of Sunday, pressing on into daylight.
‘We will always bring overwhelming skill and firepower,’ the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs added.
When Trump was asked how many servicemembers were involved in the mission, Caine interjected: ‘I’d love to keep that a secret.’
‘OK, well … but I will tell you the number. I’ll keep it a secret. But it was hundreds and hundreds of these people,’ the President responded.
Later at the briefing, Trump threatened to unleash hell on Iran if it fails to strike a deal, warning the country faces further destruction.
‘The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,’ the President said, adding fuel to his previous threat that he’d target Iran’s infrastructure.
When asked whether the war was wrapping up or escalating – scenarios that Trump has both teased – the President gave a clarifying answer.
‘I don’t know. I can’t tell. It depends on what they do,’ Trump said.
The President was later asked whether Iran simply had to make a deal to meet his deadline – or open the Strait or Hormuz – or both.
‘We have to have a deal that is acceptable to me,’ he said. ‘And part of that deal is going to be, we want free traffic of oil and everything.’
How the daring extraction unfolded
Friday morning, April 3. Near the village of Talkhuncheh, Isfahan Province, Iran.
A F-15 E Strike Eagle is apparently hit by Iranian fire. Tehran said it is deploying new anti-aircraft weapons and there are suspicions an advanced passive infrared detection system was used to guide a missile. Both pilot and weapons systems officer eject.
Friday daytime
Weapons systems officer, a lieutenant colonel, is injured during the ejection and becomes separated from the pilot. US special forces HH-60W Jolly Green 2 helicopters fly in and come under fire from Iranians. They rescue the pilot but are unable to reach the other crewman. Two helicopters are hit and the crew are injured but they are able to escape Iranian airspace. An A-10 Warthog was also hit by fire and later crashed in the Strait of Hormuz. An MC-130J refuelling aircraft is filmed fuelling two helicopters over the crash site. Iranians are also filmed firing at one rescue helicopter.
Hours 1-12
The Weapons Systems Officer starts hiking away from the wreck site and evades detection by Iranian Forces. Armed with just a handgun and injured but mobile, the senior officer headed for higher ground. The experienced colonel used his SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), an escape doctrine drilled into every American combat aircrew. He activated his emergency beacon and lay low, waiting for an unlikely rescue. Although he could use his emergency beacon to contact rescuers, it also risked giving his location away to the enemy.
Hours 12-24
American forces hunt for the officer, while he hiked at least 20 kilometres and climbed 7,000 feet up a mountain. He is eventually located by the CIA, although it is unclear how. The CIA starts a deception operation to convince Iranians that the officer has already been rescued. MQ-9 Reaper Drones watch over the officer and attack any Iranians who get within 3 kilometres of his location. Two drones were shot down and they attacked multiple Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps search parties. Iranian media offers a $60,000 reward for the capture of the officer.
Saturday morning
US special forces launch a second rescue mission with commandos from the elite SEAL Team 6, also known as DEVGRU and land at a desert airstrip near the town of Mahyar. The Navy Seals fly in four MH-6 Little Birds and rescue the officer from the mountain top, before returning to the desert airstrip.
Saturday afternoon
The two C-130 aircraft got stuck in the dirt at the desert landing strip, forcing the US to deploy three new Dash-8 rescue aircrafts. The commandos blow up the two stuck aircraft and at least one helicopter, to deny them to the enemy, before making their escape.
Daily Mail
