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U.S. special forces rescued the second crew member of an F-15E fighter jet shot down over Iran in a complex 36-hour operation.
The mission involved hundreds of commandos, dozens of warplanes, and CIA intelligence capabilities.
It also included airstrikes against pursuing Iranian forces and a firefight on the ground.
The operation ended with a successful extraction that U.S. President Trump called “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history.”
"WE GOT HIM!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"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," he added.
Trump identified the rescued crew member as a colonel who "sustained injuries, but he will be just fine."
The weapons systems officer ejected from the F-15E when it was struck by Iranian fire early Friday in southwestern Iran. He was wounded but could still walk, according to a U.S. official.
Using his SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training, he hiked away from the wreckage and hid on an elevated ridge, activating an emergency beacon and using an encrypted radio to communicate with his chain of command.
The pilot was rescued within hours of the shoot-down on Friday. Two U.S. military helicopters carried out that extraction, but one Black Hawk was struck by small arms fire during the operation, wounding crew members aboard.
The helicopter was able to continue flying.
The second crew member was not located and rescued until more than a day later, early Sunday morning local time.
A senior administration official told Axios that before locating the weapons officer, the CIA launched a deception campaign by spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found him and were attempting a ground exfiltration.
Meanwhile, the CIA used what the official described as "unique capabilities" to search for him.
"This was the ultimate needle in a haystack, but in this case it was a brave American soul inside a mountain crevice, invisible but for the CIA's capabilities," the official said.
The CIA shared his precise location with the Pentagon and the White House, and Trump ordered an immediate rescue mission.
The president and senior administration officials monitored the operation from the White House Situation Room throughout Saturday.
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The rescue was carried out by a specialized commando unit backed by extensive air cover. Hundreds of special forces troops, dozens of warplanes and helicopters, and cyber, space and other intelligence assets were deployed.
The IRGC had sent forces to the region to prevent a rescue. U.S. Air Force jets conducted strikes against Iranian convoys to keep them from reaching the area where the officer was hiding. When forces converged on the downed airman, a firefight erupted.
Videos from local eyewitnesses showed what appeared to be injured and dead members of the IRGC and Basij who had been searching for the American.
In a final complication reported by the New York Times, two transport planes meant to evacuate the commandos and airmen became stranded at a remote base in Iran after the rescue.
Commanders flew in three replacement aircraft to extract all personnel and destroyed the two disabled planes to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands.
An A-10 Warthog that was providing close air support for Friday's search mission was hit by Iranian fire and crashed in Kuwait. The pilot ejected safely and was rescued.
Trump claimed the fact that both crew members were rescued "without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded" proved the U.S. had achieved "overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies."
However, the total toll of the incident, one F-15E shot down by enemy fire, one A-10 downed, two Black Hawks hit, two transport planes destroyed, represented the most concentrated loss of U.S. aircraft in a single operation since the war began.
A senior U.S. military official described the rescue as "one of the most challenging and complex in the history of U.S. special operations."
Trump said the White House had deliberately withheld confirmation of the pilot's rescue on Friday "because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation."
"This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory," Trump wrote.
"We will never leave an American warfighter behind!" he concluded.
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