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WE GOT HIM: US commandos rescue downed F-15 airman in daring raid deep inside Iran

On 5 April 2026, The Times of Israel published "WE GOT HIM: US commandos rescue downed F-15 airman in daring raid deep inside Iran". Times of Israel staff and news agencies wrote it. Emanuel Fabian contributed. The article says US special operations forces went deep into Iran and brought out a wounded American airman after his F-15 was shot down. President Donald Trump announced it with the words "WE GOT HIM." An American family should care because this is a report of American soldiers on Iranian soil, in a rescue, not a report of an occupation or a draft. It is still Americans inside Iran, according to the US accounts the paper cites. Iran's military said the mission failed.

Background for new readers: On 28 February 2026 the United States and Israel began a joint air war on Iran. The Pentagon calls its part Operation Epic Fury; Israel calls its part Operation Roaring Lion. It came eight months after a shorter war in June 2025, when US bombers hit Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The question running through this section is whether the air war turns into American soldiers fighting on Iranian soil. This article is filed under Americans on Iranian Soil; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: STRONG. The rating covers the core fact: US special operations soldiers entered Iran to rescue a downed airman and brought him out. The Times of Israel cites the President, the New York Times, Axios, the Associated Press, and Israeli defense officials on that point. Iranian statements quoted on the page also describe a US operation inside Iran.

What the article says​

The paper says an F-15E was shot down on Friday over southwest Iran. Two crew were aboard. The pilot was rescued the same day. US commandos reached the weapons officer, a colonel, late Saturday, after what the paper calls a 36-hour race. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the military had pulled off one of the most daring search-and-rescue operations in US history, and that the officer was safe after more than a day in the mountains of Iran. Trump said, "At my direction, the US Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him." He said the officer was injured and would be fine. He later wrote that the airman was seriously wounded and that Iranian soldiers were getting close.

The New York Times, as cited by the Times of Israel, is the source for the scale of the force on the ground.

Hundreds of special operations soldiers took part in the rescue mission, which a senior US military official described as one of the most challenging in US history, the paper said.

The New York Times, as quoted by The Times of Israel, 5 April 2026. "The paper" in that sentence is the New York Times.

The Times account, via the Times of Israel, says the commandos fired to keep Iranian forces away but did not get into a gunfight. It says the original rescue aircraft got stuck on a makeshift airstrip the commandos set up inside Iran, and that the Americans blew those aircraft up so Iran would not take them. The airman and the commandos left on three replacement planes. A regional intelligence official told the Associated Press that the US blew up two transport planes after a technical malfunction and brought in more aircraft to finish the rescue. The Times said the officer was flown to Kuwait for treatment. A senior US official told the Times the wounded officer hiked up about 7,000 feet to avoid capture.

Israeli defense officials told the Times of Israel that Israel gave intelligence for the search. An Israeli official said the Israeli Air Force postponed strikes in the areas being searched.

Iran told a different story about the ending. State television aired smoke and claimed Iranian forces had shot down an American transport plane and two Black Hawk helicopters. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, quoted by Tasnim, said an American aircraft searching for the pilot was destroyed in southern Isfahan. Spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari, of the Khatam Al-Anbiya central command, said the rescue operation at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan "was completely foiled."

The article also says other US reports contradict Trump's claim that not a single American was killed or even wounded. The Washington Post, citing unnamed US officials, reported that Iranian forces fired on two helicopters searching for the weapons officer and wounded some Americans aboard. Axios reported that crew members were wounded in an Iranian strike on a Black Hawk during the Friday search for the pilot.

The paper says the war that Trump and Israel launched on 28 February was aimed at destabilizing Iran's government and destroying its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Iranian authorities had offered a reward for the missing officer.

What other reporting adds​

The US commander's own count, five months later. In September 2026 the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM, the Pentagon headquarters for the Middle East), Admiral Brad Cooper, described the rescue to CBS's 60 Minutes. As an RT write-up of that segment, pasted on X, reports it: "More than 90 US service members were ultimately deployed on the ground, while several hundred personnel were in the air and several thousand supported the operation." Cooper "described them as the first acknowledged US 'boots on the ground' in Iran in 46 years." (as pasted by @rbg4lif on X, 14 September 2026; research capture: twitter/t49__v581.md). The same write-up says two MC-130J transport planes got stuck and were destroyed by US forces, matching the Times of Israel account above. "46 years" points back to 1980, the failed Desert One rescue attempt. The CBS segment itself was not opened for this page, so these words come through RT and an X post.

Rating note. This page stays at STRONG. If Cooper's words are confirmed in the CBS broadcast, the core claim, that American troops were on Iranian soil for this rescue, becomes an on-the-record statement by the responsible commander, which would justify CONFIRMED.

Inside the administration. Two days after the rescue, The Washington Post reported that officials were frustrated with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's rosy briefings. It quoted one administration official: "Pete is not speaking truth to the president. As a result, the president is out there repeating misleading information." (The Washington Post, 7 April 2026; research capture: twitter/t52__v618.md). The White House spokeswoman called that story fake.

Claims to treat as leads only. Former CIA officer Larry Johnson alleged that the F-15 "was preparing for a ground attack on Natanz when it was shot down" and that the Pentagon was "lying about the rescue op." The account that relayed it, Mario Nawfal, marked it a "BIG if" (research capture: twitter/t51__v607.md). No document supports that claim in the captures.

What it shows​

An Israeli paper reported, in real time, American soldiers on Iranian soil, only weeks after Washington said there would be no boots on the ground. The New York Times, as relayed here, put the force at "hundreds." This is what a ground war looks like in its first form: a raid that goes in under fire. In September, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, called it the first acknowledged US "boots on the ground" in Iran in 46 years; see Americans Already on Iranian Soil. For the official words said in the same weeks, see No Boots on the Ground.

Check it yourself​

The New York Times, Axios, the Associated Press, and the Washington Post are named only as this article cites them. The later CENTCOM account is from the research captures and is quoted in the section above.

Status: Donald Trump is alive. The rescued airman is not named in the article. The article quotes Ebrahim Zolfaghari as a military spokesman.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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