One of Two US Air Crew Downed In Iran Reportedly Rescued

(AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Axios’s Barak Ravid reported on Friday that one of the two U.S. air crew members downed over Iran has been rescued by U.S. troops.

“One of two crew members of a U.S. fighter jet that was shot down over Iran was located and rescued by U.S. special forces and the search for the second is ongoing, per Israeli official and a source with knowledge,” wrote Ravid.

Ravid had earlier reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had told him that President Donald Trump “has been briefed” on the downed fighter jet and was monitoring the situation. Reports had widely circulated that Iranian officials had issued a reward for the downed air crew, with television news anchors encouraging locals to help capture the Americans.

CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton discussed the situation earlier in the morning and explained how the Iranians were able to shoot down the fighter jet and what a rescue operation might look like.

“It’s an older-generation aircraft. It is designed for multiple missions, but mainly air superiority-type missions. And it is vulnerable to the kind of anti-aircraft fire that the Iranians are capable of conducting. So, in conjunction with the reporting from the U.S. intelligence community that says that the Iranians still have major capabilities, this is one more piece of evidence that they have those capabilities, and it’s still dangerous for our pilots,” Leighton explained.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer followed up by asking about the search and rescue effort, “And especially if a pilot has ejected and they’re now on the ground somewhere in Iran right now — the U.S. would presumably be sending in troops to try to save those pilots.”

“Yes, exactly. Those are the search-and-rescue capabilities that the U.S. Air Force has. There are very capable elements from the 1st Special Operations Wing based out of Hurlburt Field, Florida. And what they can do is go in and try to rescue those pilots. And the key thing is there’s probably a two-man crew,” replied Leighton.

“On both the F-15 and the F-35?” Blitzer pressed.

Leighton replied, “Well, yes, that is correct. And when it comes to the F-15, one of them is a pilot and the other is an electronic warfare officer, but both of them need to be rescued at this point in time. There are some reports that an ejection seat has been found in Iran by the Iranians, so the crew is probably not far away. That puts them in a very vulnerable position if those reports are accurate.”

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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