The rescue came after, what NYT calls, “a life-or-death race” between the US and Iranian forces that stretched over two days to reach the injured airman, officials told the news outlet. As the US forces stepped nearer to the downed airman, a heavy firefight erupted, NYT added, quoting former senior military officials. 🔴 Use of communication deviceThe US forces were able to coordinate with the downed airman via a “secure communication device”. 🔴 Another operation to rescue pilotThe search and rescue operation was conducted alongside the rescue of a jet pilot on Saturday, which the US President said, “we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation”. On the Iranian side, the crash was also noticed by its military forces, who were reported to have been scouring the area.

Source: Indian Express April 05, 2026 07:27 UTC