← Videos
The Rescue Inside Iran: Declassified Video (60 Minutes, 2026)
The April 2026 rescue operation, the one time US troops went into Iran, and the Pentagon's briefing on it.
Newly declassified videos show rescue of downed Air Force officers 2 days apart · 60 Minutes · uploaded 2026-09-13 · 3:09
Original: youtube.com/watch?v=2QQNlaATZcs · IPFS QmVxbbBfV3vVUgBAKK4yyrR7yPf4dDjjtCwcepxAF7zuvd
What this video is evidence for
In April 2026 an American F-15E was shot down over Iran by an Iranian missile. Its two crew members, called "Alpha" and "Bravo" for security reasons, ejected and landed miles apart in rugged mountains, "stranded behind enemy lines with Iranian bounties on their heads."
This 60 Minutes segment (September 13, 2026) shows newly declassified footage of the rescues. General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, calls the operation one of the biggest and most complex in US military history:
- Alpha, the pilot: "The U.S. sent in 21 aircraft to get him out," in daylight. "Anytime you go behind enemy lines in daylight, it's gonna be dicey."
- Bravo, the weapons systems officer: alone and "badly wounded, with almost no water, no food" for nearly two days. He was located with help from "top secret CIA technology." American bombers and drones struck Revolutionary Guard forces nearby, and then US special forces went in on foot to carry him out, about 7,000 feet up a mountain.
This is the first time American troops are known to have set foot on Iranian soil in this war. It shows what "boots on the ground in Iran" means in practice: bounties, mountains, daylight raids, dozens of aircraft for one man. Other reporting on the rescue put the number of aircraft involved as high as 155.
Where this fits: see American Soldiers Iran Videos for the full explanation and sources.
Transcript
Machine transcription (apple-speechanalyzer) of the full 00:03:09. It can mishear names and words, so check exact wording against the video before quoting it.
This is newly declassified video of the rescues of 2 U.S. Air Force officers who were shot down over Iran. The 2 men who we are calling Alpha and Bravo for security reasons, ejected from their F 15 E fighter jet after they were struck by an Iranian missile and landed miles apart in a rugged, mountainous region. They were stranded behind enemy lines with Iranian bounties on their heads.
Of course, the first concern is, what's the status of the crew? General Dan Kane, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the rescue operation for both officers was one of the biggest and most complex in U.S. military history. Alpha, the pilot, was located first.
This declassified footage shows the risky daytime mission to rescue him. The U.S. sent in 21 aircraft to get him out. Just how dangerous was the mission to rescue Alpha.
Well, anytime you go behind enemy lines in daylight, it's gonna be dicey. We would much rather go at night, but given the threat to 4 4 Alpha, the decision was taken to boldly go behind enemy lines in daylight to make sure that we could get to him before anybody else could. For nearly two days, Bravo, the weapons systems officer who was in the backseat was alone in the Iranian desert, badly wounded, with almost no water, no food, and no rescue in sight. Then the US, with help from top secret CIA technology, finally pinpointed him. In this video, American bombers and drones strike Iran's revolutionary guard forces nearby.
After that, it was time to go back in for Bravo. We showed General Dan Kane the video of Bravo's rescue, and asked him to walk us through the mission. Well, we're looking at a feed from an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance asset that's 4 4 Bravo up there, I'm quite sure. And we've got two special forces folks coming forward, and it looks like they're bringing them out. In my understanding, this was about 7,000 feet up.
It's pretty high. Yeah, you can see the high terrain off to the right, upper right side of this. And so the back seater scaled that mountain. You'd have to ask him, but I imagine, yeah, probably so. Pre extraordinary.
That's what I would do. You wanna get to the high ground. You want to isolate the threat below you, so that you can see and observe anybody that's coming to get you, and make a decision on what you're gonna do to evade them. And why, in an image like this, is this small helicopter, why is that obscured that image? What does it...?
Because I don't want you to know what kind of helicopter that is. Yeah. We want to retain our most bespoke capabilities so that if the United States ever needs to use them again, we can. You don't want the enemy or anybody else to see what that is? I do not.
Right.
Last Updated: 2026-09-27