The U.S. military successfully completed a large-scale operation to rescue the crew of a fighter jet shot down deep inside Iran's interior.
On Apr. 5, according to a compilation of reports from major outlets including the New York Times (NYT), Al Jazeera and Axios, U.S. special operations forces carried out a late-night mission the day before and succeeded in rescuing a U.S. Air Force F-15E weapons systems officer who had been shot down inside Iranian territory. The fighter jet crashed on the 3rd after being caught in Iranian air defenses. Since the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, this is the first time a U.S. fighter jet has been shot down by gunfire in Iranian airspace.
Experts said the operation amounted to "virtually a full-scale war," with not only U.S. special operations forces but also land, sea and air assets fully mobilized.
Two people were aboard the stricken F-15E fighter, the pilot and a weapons systems officer. On the 3rd, the day of the crash, the pilot was rescued immediately, but the weapons systems officer who had been with the pilot went missing. The person who made a dramatic return alive through this late-night special operation is that weapons systems officer.
According to U.S. media, left alone in the middle of enemy territory, the officer evaded Iran's dense search net for a full day with only a personal sidearm. The Iranian government launched a massive search, even offering a hefty reward to capture the officer alive. But because the crash site is in an area with strong anti-government sentiment, some suggest local residents may have secretly provided shelter.
The operation mounted to save a single officer was reminiscent of a blockbuster movie. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) moved swiftly, contacting local civilian helpers and launching a so-called "nonconventional assisted recovery" operation to aid survival. The U.S. military immediately sent hundreds of top-tier special operators and dozens of fighter jets and helicopters deep into Iranian territory. U.S. Cyber Command used space satellites and cyber assets to stream real-time battlefield intelligence.
According to the NYT and others, fierce gunfights erupted on the ground. As an Iranian military convoy tightened its cordon, U.S. fighter jets unleashed intense bombing and strafing to halt the advance. There were also harrowing moments during the rescue. Two transport aircraft that were to take off carrying the rescue team and the officer were stranded at a remote base inside Iran due to mechanical problems.
At a critical moment when they could have been encircled by enemy forces, U.S. commanders rushed in three backup transports from a nearby base and evacuated all personnel safely. Right before withdrawing, the U.S. military even decided to completely blow up the two abandoned transports on the spot to prevent military secrets and equipment from being captured by Iranian forces. A senior U.S. military official familiar with the operation told the NYT it was "one of the most difficult and complex missions in the history of U.S. special operations."
Iran signaled an expansion of the front on the day, vowing retaliation. Iran is now carrying out simultaneous counterstrikes targeting the United States and Israel. On the same day, the Mahshahr petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran came under airstrike, killing five and injuring 170, as the two sides' exchange of blows intensified. Gholam Ali Rashid, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya in Iran, warned in an interview with Al Jazeera that "the invaders, blinded by the mirage of defeating the Islamic Republic, will sink into the swamp."