Trump Reveals Iranian Missile Downed F-15E, Crew Rescued After 48-Hour Ordeal

The weapons systems officer had only a handgun when Iranian forces began closing in. For nearly 48 hours after his F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran on April 3, the American airman code-named "Dude 4-4 Bravo" climbed through mountainous terrain, treated his own wounds, and transmitted his location using survival equipment, all while evading Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps elements that had moved into the area.

President Donald Trump revealed these details Monday at a White House press conference alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, providing the first comprehensive public account of a rescue operation that unfolded over two days deep inside Iranian territory.

Trump disclosed that the F-15E was brought down by an Iranian shoulder-mounted missile, a man-portable air-defense system known as MANPADS, a fact that had not previously been made public. Both crew members ejected after the April 3 shootdown. The pilot, code-named "Dude 4-4 Alpha," was located and recovered the same day. The weapons systems officer, "Dude 4-4 Bravo," was not found until Sunday, April 6, hiding in a mountain crevice.

The CIA played the central role in that second rescue. The agency launched a deception campaign inside Iran, spreading false word that U.S. forces had already located the officer and were moving him overland for exfiltration. While Iranian search teams reacted to that disinformation, the CIA tracked the airman's actual location and passed his precise coordinates to the Pentagon and the White House. Trump ordered an immediate rescue mission and said he received constant updates from Hegseth throughout the two-day operation, which ultimately involved more than 150 aircraft and more than 200 munitions.

Trump had stayed largely silent during the search, later explaining the White House withheld news of Friday's first rescue to avoid jeopardizing the second mission. Early Sunday morning, he broke his silence on Truth Social with a three-word post: "WE GOT HIM!" He later called the operation "one of the most daring in U.S. history."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered public congratulations, describing it as a "perfectly executed American mission." Netanyahu also confirmed that Israel had provided intelligence support and postponed planned strikes on Iran to avoid interfering with the rescue effort.

The White House briefing came as Trump separately escalated pressure over the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which approximately 20 percent of all global oil traffic passes. Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum demanding Iran reopen the passage or face strikes on power plants and bridges, describing April 7 in a Truth Social post as "Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day."

That an IRGC-linked search effort came within striking distance of the stranded airman before the CIA's deception bought enough time for extraction captures how narrowly the mission's outcome was decided. The operation's scale, and the intelligence architecture required to sustain it inside hostile territory, will likely define how the U.S. military and intelligence community assess future personnel recovery missions in denied environments.