US airman rescued after his fighter jet was shot down in Iran

8 hours ago 4

NPR's Tom Bowman reports on the race to rescue a U.S. airman after his fighter jet was shot down.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Rob Schmitz in Berlin, Germany. A wounded American colonel who's been on the run for more than two days has been rescued in the mountains deep inside Iran in a daring rescue by U.S. special operations forces. NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman joins us now with more. Hey, Tom.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hey, Rob.

SCHMITZ: Tom, what's the latest on how this rescue came about?

BOWMAN: Well, first of all, remember, on Friday, this F-15 warplane was shot down, likely by antiaircraft guns, some 150 miles inside Iran. Pilot was quickly recovered, but his weapons officer, a colonel, spent, again, two days evading Iranian militia and Revolutionary Guard forces. He was eventually plucked from a crevasse in a mountain some 7,000 feet high.

SCHMITZ: Wow.

BOWMAN: I'm told by a U.S. official he's in stable condition, though no detail on his wounds. He was flown by helicopter to Kuwait. Now, several hundred or more special operations forces took part in this rescue effort, and what made this particularly challenging was the mountainous terrain. But U.S. forces trained for this very scenario - retrieving a downed pilot - in the mountains of the American West. And the aircrews themselves go through rigorous training to survive and evade an enemy.

Also, aircrews are equipped with special radios and transponders that are encrypted, providing the exact location for rescue officials. So questions remain if he - they knew his location, why did it take two days to grab him?

SCHMITZ: Wow, Tom. That sounds like a dramatic rescue. I mean, besides the mountainous terrain, there were also Iranian forces trying to capture him, right?

BOWMAN: That's right. First of all, they knew where the F-15 crashed, of course. You can see the wreckage. So they were combing the area looking for him, and they also put out a cash reward for any local civilians to capture him. Now, Iranian military forces were getting pretty close. I was told by one military officer that anyone moving within - get this - 3 kilometers of the weapons officer was considered hostile.

A large number of U.S. aircraft, including attack drones, were used to go after these Iranian forces. And C-130 cargo planes landed at a makeshift airfield - basically this long stretch of dirt. Some of the planes had special operators. Others had fuel to refuel the helicopters involved in the rescue. Now, there are photos of two of the C-130s destroyed. The New York Times is reporting that the pilots happened to drill the plane's noses into the soft dirt, and they had to be destroyed so the Iranians couldn't recover them.

And, Rob, you know, last night, I was told around 10 p.m. Eastern by someone monitoring open source information inside Iran that there were large numbers of U.S. aircraft, some firefights with Iranian forces, a communications tower destroyed by bombs or missiles, also a video of an Iranian convoy. So something clearly was happening and a sense was this was a rescue operation.

SCHMITZ: But there was no official word until President Trump put out a message on Truth Social just after midnight.

BOWMAN: Right. The president said the crew member was rescued in broad daylight and called it an amazing show of bravery and talent. He said the Iranian forces were looking hard, in big numbers and getting close. He went on to say that there'll be a news conference in the Oval Office on Monday at 1 p.m. with military officials, so I'm sure we'll get a lot more detail.

Also, Rob, another American pilot flying an A-10 Warthog was shot down the day before by Iran - made it to Kuwait and ejected. Pilot was recovered. Pentagon officials just told lawmakers recently.

SCHMITZ: Now, the president has also done a series of interviews today with select reporters. What did we learn about that?

BOWMAN: In one of the interviews with Axios, the president said the U.S. is in, quote, "deep negotiations" with Iran and said a deal could be reached before Tuesday, and if not, he vowed to mount devastating attacks on Iran. Earlier, the president said Tuesday would be, quote, "power plant day and bridge day." There'll be nothing like it if no agreement is reached. He also used an expletive and said, Iran must open the strait, meaning the Strait of Hormuz, where some 20% of the world's oil moves through. It is now controlled by Iran. President said, if you don't open it, you'll be living in hell.

SCHMITZ: That is NPR's Tom Bowman. Tom, thank you.

BOWMAN: You're welcome.

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