An F-15E Strike Eagle takes off for a combat flight during Operation Epic Fury on March 16, 2026. (U.S. Air Force)
The U.S. Air Force colonel, badly injured after his F-15E was shot down in southern Iran, climbed some 7,000 feet up a ridgeline armed with a handgun.
Iranian forces had launched a massive manhunt, as his capture would have given Tehran leverage with the United States in negotiations to end the war, now in its sixth week.
“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone,” President Donald Trump said in a statement early Sunday after the rescue.
For more than 24 hours, the colonel, whose name has not been released, hid in the rugged terrain with a bounty on his head, emitting an emergency beacon in the hope of guiding American special operators to his location, The New York Times reported.
Fighter plane crews undergo extensive training on how to evade capture if their aircraft goes down in enemy territory. That training and the military’s mantra to “leave no man behind” were put to the ultimate test in the race to rescue the airman.
The U.S. reportedly mobilized a force made up of fighters, drones, electronic warfare tools, intelligence assets and the military’s most elite special operators to conduct one of its most daring and complex high-stakes rescue operations in recent history.
The Navy’s SEAL Team 6 spearheaded the ground rescue element, with Delta Force and the Rangers waiting in reserve, the Times reported.
Overhead, MQ-9 Reaper drones scanned the area, firing when needed to keep enemy fighters at bay, according to The Wall Street Journal.
To complete the operation, U.S. forces needed to push deep into heavily defended airspace and sustain the effort for more than a day.
Aircraft cycled in waves, inserting forces and extracting personnel under fire as Iranian air defenses and ground units pressed closer, the Times reported.
Initially, U.S. officials worried that the airman’s emergency beacon and radio signals could be a trap to lure U.S. forces, but that possibility was eventually ruled out, the Times and Axios reported.
Meanwhile, the CIA launched a deception operation aimed at buying the colonel time by spreading misinformation inside Iran that he had already been recovered, according to the Times.
With the colonel’s location finally pinned down, commanders then waited until dark to launch the rescue, with commandos arriving by helicopter.
They didn’t encounter resistance when they arrived, and the Times reported that it wasn’t clear how close Iranian forces got to the colonel.
The initial plan was to load the airman and the rescue force onto two C-130 aircraft nearby, but the planes were stuck on the sandy makeshift airstrip, military officials told multiple outlets.
Attempts to dig the aircraft out failed and after several hours replacements arrived.
Once U.S. personnel had departed, American aircraft bombed the two disabled C-130s and four MH-6 Special Operations helicopters rather than let the sensitive air systems fall into Iranian hands, the Times said.
