BREAKING: Downed U.S. Airman Rescued In Southwest Iran After ‘Complex Operation’
U.S. Special Forces have reportedly recovered the missing airman who ejected from a U.S. F-15E that was shot down over southwestern Iran on Friday morning.
Videos circulating online appeared to show U.S. helicopters flying around the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province near Dehdasht and Alqchin-e Olya earlier in the night. The area known for remote, mountainous terrain that is very rural and inhabited by nomads and tribes active in the mountains and plains.
Reports of gunfire and strikes in the region continued to swirl throughout the evening, though the Pentagon did not provide any information. Iranian state media reported that several people had been killed and wounded in the Boyer-Ahmad area around 8:44 p.m. Eastern Time.
At 11:46 p.m. Eastern Time, Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin, citing two unnamed U.S. officials, reported that the second crew member was rescued after a “complex rescue operation” that began Friday morning.
“Fox News can confirm that the 2nd crew member of the downed F15E fighter jet has been rescued and he and the members of the rescue team that extracted him from behind enemy lines in Iran are all safely out of Iran,” Griffin reported in a follow-up statement. “That according to two senior US officials and multiple well placed sources in the region. The Weapons Systems Officer ejected along with the pilot when their F15E Strike Eagle they were flying was struck Thursday night (early Friday local time) in southwest Iran. ”
The WSO officer managed to escape to an elevated ridge away from the crash site before contacting rescue teams through a secured device.
“US Special Operations rescue forces to include PJs (United States Air Force Pararescuemen (PJs) and many layers of elite rescue forces took part in the complex, layered mission to both find the crew member and also keep the Iranian forces who were hunting the American weapons system operator at bay,” Griffin further reported. She further addressed the videos circulating online, many of which appear to show deceased Iranian Basij forces who were reportedly hunting the crew member.
“It was a very complex operation to retrieve the downed service member,” one source familiar with the mission told Griffin. The official added that no U.S. service members were killed in the rescue operation.
Griffin further reported that the A10 Warthog that crashed on Friday was involved in the rescue operations. That aircraft, which reportedly went down in Kuwait, was destroyed by a separate team due to the presence of sensitive equipment. The pilot on that aircraft managed to eject safely.
Video purportedly show locals and security forces mobilizing to the site where the rescue is allegedly ongoing pic.twitter.com/zlDXj1cMjn
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) April 4, 2026
The downed F-15 aircraft, which was assigned to the 494th Fighter Squadron of the 48th Fighter Wing and based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, carried a two-person crew consisting of a pilot and a weapon systems officer. Both crew members ejected safely from the aircraft, U.S. military officials with knowledge of the situation told The New York Times.
Iranian state media released images of wreckage, including portions of the wingtip and vertical stabilizer, which U.S. officials and independent analyses confirmed as consistent with an F-15E Strike Eagle. The downing occurred in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, an area that was subsequently closed off by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps for search operations.
The incident marked the first time a manned U.S. aircraft was downed over Iranian territory since the conflict began on February 28.
U.S. forces managed to recover one crew member not long after the aircraft went down. That service member, described as the aircraft’s pilot, was rescued alive by American special operations personnel and taken out of Iran for medical treatment.
Videos circulating online showed several low-flying U.S. helicopters and other military aircraft as part of the search and rescue operation on Friday. Multiple U.S. service members were wounded by small arms fire during the rescue of the first crew member.