← Americans on Iranian Soil
36 שעות בשטח אויב: איך שרד הנווט האמריקאי באיראן? — 36 hours in enemy territory: how did the American navigator survive in Iran?
On 5 April 2026, the Israeli financial paper Globes published 36 שעות בשטח אויב: איך שרד הנווט האמריקאי באיראן?. Yuval Faso wrote it. The page date is 5 April 2026, and the story calls that day a Sunday. Globes says American special forces finished a rescue inside Iran after an F-15E was shot down on Friday and the navigator was left behind. An American family should care because the article says American soldiers searched Iranian ground for one of their own, and that a firefight started as they got close. A separate sentence, attributed to one unnamed source, says Israeli commando units took part. Those two claims are not equally supported on this page.
Background for a new reader. The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February 2026. Around 3 April 2026 (the night of 2 to 3 April) Iran shot down a US F-15E fighter-bomber over Iran, and its two-man crew ejected. The rescue that followed is the one time, on the record so far, that American soldiers are known to have been on the ground inside Iran in this war. This page is an Israeli account of that rescue.
Evidence rating: STRONG. The rating covers the report that U.S. special forces went onto Iranian ground and brought the navigator out. Globes states the rescue was completed, quotes President Trump describing dozens of aircraft and special forces, and cites the New York Times, Fox News, and the Wall Street Journal. The claim that Israeli commando units took part is attributed to one Israeli source speaking to Iran International.
What the article says
Globes says American special forces completed a complex rescue inside Iran that Sunday, after an F-15E was shot down on Friday and the navigator was left in hostile territory. The pilot was rescued on Friday. The second officer, badly hurt in the ejection but able to walk, was left alone. An F-15E is a two-seat U.S. fighter-bomber. Globes, citing the New York Times, says this Strike Eagle does not have the stealth of newer fighters. Citing the U.S. Air Force, it says the jet has a pilot and a weapons officer, can reach 3,017 kilometers an hour, and can carry more than 9.07 tons.
Globes says Trump said dozens of aircraft and special forces were launched for the mission. It gives his description of the crewman as a brave fighter behind enemy lines in the dangerous mountains of Iran, with enemies chasing him and getting closer by the hour, but never really alone, because the commander in chief, the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other fighters tracked his location around the clock and planned the rescue. The Joint Chiefs are the senior body of U.S. military chiefs. Globes says that night the navigator was rescued and flown with the rescue team to Kuwait for medical care.
Under a heading on Israeli involvement and a deception effort, Globes says that according to reports, Israel was also involved. According to Fox News, as Globes relays it, Israel supplied relevant intelligence, cooperated with the American security agencies, and even stopped planned strikes in the area during an operation that lasted about 36 hours. In addition, an Israeli source told Iran International that Sayeret Matkal and Shaldag units were involved in the rescue inside Iran. Sayeret Matkal is Israel's general-staff commando unit. Shaldag is the Israeli Air Force commando unit. Globes does not say it established that involvement itself. It also says the CIA, the U.S. spy agency, ran a deception meant to confuse the other side, including a false report that the officer had already been rescued.
Globes then describes the American force on the ground in its own words.
במהלך המבצע טסו מטוסי תובלה ומסוקים בגובה נמוך מעל איראן, בעוד כוחות מיוחדים סרקו את הקרקע בדרכם אל הקצין.
Yuval Faso, Globes, 5 April 2026. Translated: during the operation, transport planes and helicopters flew at low altitude over Iran, while special forces scanned the ground on their way to the officer. The next sentences say the Americans also used bombs and covering fire to push Iranian forces away from the area, and that at some point a firefight developed as the forces neared the navigator.
Globes says an MC-130J took part. That is a U.S. aircraft built to insert forces into hostile territory and to take them back out. Citing the Wall Street Journal, it says the plane is an advanced aircraft costing more than 100 million dollars apiece. A U.S. source said two aircraft of this type were destroyed by the United States during the mission after they got stuck at a remote base, so sensitive equipment would not fall into Iranian hands.
Globes says Trump wrote that day on Truth Social that the Iranian military approached the pilot in large numbers and got close. He added that this is a highly regarded colonel, that an operation of this kind is almost never carried out because of the risk to the person and the equipment, and that it simply does not happen. He said the second raid came after the first, in which the pilot was rescued in full daylight, also unusual, after seven hours over Iran.
Globes says the navigator was left with only a pistol. According to the reports it is summarizing, he used his survival training to avoid capture, moved away from the wreckage, climbed a high ridge, hid, and signaled the rescue forces with a CSEL radio, a combat locator made by Boeing since 2006. It says he activated the distress beacon and so made contact with the American forces. Iranian authorities mobilized forces and even civilians to search, and at some point a cash reward of about 60,000 dollars was offered for finding him. According to Fox News, as Globes gives it, he was on the run for about 15 to 24 hours before he was rescued. The headline and the Fox account of the Israeli role both use about 36 hours for the operation. The page prints both figures and does not reconcile them.
Globes quotes Matthew Buckley, a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot, telling Scripps News that pilots go through SERE training, survival, evasion, resistance, and escape, so they can avoid capture until rescuers arrive. Buckley said no one is left behind, and that they will come get you. That is a former pilot describing training. It is not evidence of what happened on this mission. Globes also retells, from the New York Times, the 2003 story of Ronald Young Jr. and David Williams, whose Apache helicopter was shot down in the invasion of Iraq. They were captured and held 23 days. That is a comparison from another war, not a claim about Iran.
What other reporting and posts add
- Axios, the same day. A repost of FirstSquawk on 5 April 2026: "Axios reports that U.S. special forces were deployed on the ground in Iran on both Friday and Saturday as part of a search…" The sentence is cut off in the capture. Repost. (capture: twitter/t49__v584.md)
- The official count, later. In September, CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper told CBS's 60 Minutes, as RT's write-up relays it, that "More than 90 US service members were ultimately deployed on the ground." That supports the core of this page: American special forces were on Iranian soil for the rescue. Post pasting the RT write-up. (capture: twitter/t49__v581.md)
- The Iranian version. An X search page from 29 March and later carried an Iranian claim that the United States "killed its own soldiers during the Rescue Operation" and "shot down 2 jets and 2 Black Hawks." No source or video id came with it. It is an Iranian claim, not a finding. (capture: twitter/t50__v595.md)
- Israeli commandos: not confirmed. A search of the whole capture set found no second source for the claim that Sayeret Matkal or Shaldag took part. It remains a single unnamed Israeli source speaking to Iran International.
What it shows
Globes described 36 hours of an American navigator on enemy ground and the special forces sent in after him, with a reward offered in Iran for his capture. Israel's role, as reported here, was intelligence and possibly commandos, while its infantry stayed home. Americans carried the ground risk. See Americans Already on Iranian Soil and Israel Keeps Its Infantry Home.
Check it yourself
Research captures: twitter/t49__v584.md, twitter/t49__v581.md, twitter/t50__v595.md
Last Updated: 2026-09-26