Downed in Iran, US pilot rescued after high-stakes mission, confirms Trump

Washington, Apr 5: A US service member who had been missing since Iran shot down a fighter jet has been rescued, President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post early Sunday.

The crew member had been missing since Friday, when Iran downed a US F-15E Strike Eagle. A second crew member was rescued earlier.

Trump wrote that the aviator is injured but "will be just fine," adding that he took refuge "on the treacherous mountains of Iran."

Trump added that the rescue involved "dozens of aircraft" and that US had been monitoring his location "24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue."

The fighter jet was the first US aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the conflict in late February.

Trump said last week that the US had "decimated" Iran and would finish the war "very fast."

Two days later, Iran shot down two US military planes, showing the ongoing perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of a degraded Iranian military to continue to hit back.

The other jet to go down was a US A-10 attack aircraft. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it crashed was immediately known.

A frantic US search-and-rescue operation unfolded after the crash of the F-15E jet on Friday, focusing on a mountainous region in Iran's southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.

Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in the "enemy pilot."

Iran's joint military command on Saturday said that it also struck two US Black Hawk helicopters Friday, but The Associated Press couldn't independently verify that.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump had warned Iran to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz by his Monday deadline and Tehran called his threat "unbalanced and foolish".

"Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them," Trump said via social media, as he re-upped a previous April 6 deadline for opening the shipping channel.

Trump has called Tehran "beaten and completely decimated" in the war, now in its sixth week, but the downing of two US warplanes on Friday and Iran's call to find the "enemy pilot" have again raised the stakes.

"The doors of hell will be opened to you" if Iran's infrastructure is attacked, Gen Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country's joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump's renewed threat, state media reported.

AP