US says missing crew member from downed plane found

The United States says a crew member whose F-15E fighter was shot down by Iran has been rescued.

Here’s a summary of how the search and rescue operation went:

• Two American aircraft, an F-15E and an A-10 ‘Warthog’, were shot down on Friday.
• The F-15E had two crew members on board, one of whom was rescued while the other was missing
• America launches search and rescue operation to locate missing airman
• Iran also made efforts to locate the American service member and offered a reward to anyone who finds him.
• The only pilot of A-10 was also saved
• The search for the missing airman continued throughout the day on Saturday.
• On Sunday morning, US officials, including President Donald Trump, said the crew member had been rescued.
• Trump said he was injured but would be ‘absolutely fine’
• The US President said that he had ‘deployed dozens of aircraft equipped with the world’s deadliest weapons to bring them back.’
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said an American plane involved in the search was destroyed, while Trump claimed there were no American casualties in the rescue effort.

Israel has been carrying out attacks across Lebanon since the beginning of its joint campaign with the US against Iran.

Israel says it is targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which has a stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Israeli forces attacked Hezbollah infrastructure on Saturday.

Lebanon was pulled into the conflict in the Middle East on March 2 when Hezbollah – which acts as a proxy for Tehran, its biggest beneficiary – launched attacks on Israel in response to US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

US President Donald Trump praised himself and the US military on Sunday, announcing that the second crew member of a US fighter jet downed in Iran has been found “safe and well”.

In a statement on his Truth social platform, Trump said the airman, who he said was a colonel, was located in “treacherous mountainous terrain” and was recovered despite being “hunted down” by Iranian forces.

The airman was “never truly alone,” Trump wrote, adding that he and senior military leaders had monitored the situation around the clock.

Trump said that, at his direction, “the U.S. military dispatched dozens of aircraft, armed with the world’s most lethal weapons, to retrieve the downed airman.”

He also confirmed that another crew member had been rescued earlier.

Trump said both rescues were carried out without any American casualties and proved America’s “overwhelming air dominance” over Iran.

However, contrary to those claims, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said a US plane involved in the search operation was destroyed south of Isfahan, state-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported.

Trump made a similar claim during an address to the American people on Wednesday – two days before the US planes were shot down – that Iran was “totally destroyed” and that its “navy is gone, its air force is in ruins.”

Iranian drones were attacking government and energy facilities in Kuwait, local officials said on Sunday.

“Kuwaiti Air Defense is currently responding to hostile missile and drone threats,” the country’s military posted on Twitter, noting that any explosions heard were the result of air defense interception.

A drone attack hit an oil facility operated by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, with no casualties reported, according to local media.

State news agency KUNA reported that another Iranian drone caused “significant” damage to a building belonging to the Finance Ministry. There is no news of anyone being injured.

In response to the US-Israeli attacks, Iran has targeted Kuwait and other Gulf countries hosting US military forces.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a US service member missing after Iran shot down an F-15E fighter plane has been rescued.

The airman had been missing since Friday, when Iran shot down the plane. A second crew member was rescued first.

The recovery took place after an intensive search and rescue operation.

Trump praised the US military’s efforts to locate and rescue the airman.

“At my direction, the U.S. military sent dozens of planes armed with the world’s deadliest weapons to bring him back. He was hurt, but he will be OK,” Trump said in a post on his Truth social platform.

“We will never leave an American warrior behind!” The US President added.

An Al Jazeera report, citing an unnamed US official, said the weapons officer was rescued after “heavy gunfire”.

Thank you for joining us. Here are some of the key developments on saturday: :

• The US and Iran were racing to locate the missing crew member of a US fighter plane that was shot down on Friday
• US President Donald Trump issued another ultimatum to Iran: reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours or face ‘hell’.
• Iran’s General Ali Abdullahi Aliabadi called Trump’s threat ‘helpless’
• A security guard has reportedly been killed in an attack near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant.
• US authorities arrested two women they said were relatives of slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020.
• Soleimani’s two daughters in Iran have denied any relationship with the two women arrested in America.
• Iran said it would allow Iraqi shipping to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without restrictions
• Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon kill two children and injure at least 40 others