Live Conflict Israel-US vs Iran War (2026)

Report that the downed WSO has been recovered

Orwell Prize-winning war correspondent Toby Harnden, on his part, reported that the missing F-15E weapons systems officer is safe and back in American hands.

Harnden, a former Royal Navy officer and author, who reported from 33 countries, including Baghdad and Jerusalem, for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times, said in a statement on X that the WSO has been recovered alive.

Citing an officer involved in monitoring the rescue who reportedly described the ordeal, he reported that the missing American soldier vaded up a 7,000-foot ridge.

U.S. representative for Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district, Donald John Bacon, is among Republican politicians who have reacted to the reports.

The retired military officer said the “reports of the second USAF aircrew member rescued is an answer to all our prayers.”

“I honor the bravery of our search and rescue teams and our special forces. I hope no casualties. And, I salute the F-15E Weapon Systems Officer who put their survival skills to work in a very dangerous and harrowing situation,” Bacon posted.

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Oublious said:

Poor F15 pilot, a victim off epstein files. Persians are hunting the guy down , if he can survive untill the morning it is a miracle.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2040567709058908277

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USAF Pararescue are too elite, and managed to rescue the downed pilot deep inside Iran

Azeri441 said:

USAF Pararescue are too elite, and managed to rescue the downed pilot deep inside Iran

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This sounds like the subject of a future Hollywood movie.

"Hormuz is a weapon more powerful than nuclear weapons. Iran will not surrender it," American intelligence said.

Iran is unlikely to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic anytime soon, as control over it is Tehran's only real leverage over the United States. This is the conclusion reached by American intelligence agencies.
According to American intelligence, Iranian authorities will block tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to maintain high global energy prices and thereby exert pressure on US President Donald Trump.

Intelligence reports, familiar to Reuters sources, also noted that Iran's influence in the region could increase as a result of this war, as Tehran has demonstrated its ability to jeopardize oil transportation.

In an address on April 1, Donald Trump said that the issue of regulating the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz should be taken on by the countries with the greatest interest in it, and the United States is only willing to assist them in this endeavor.

On April 3, Trump stated that the US needs a little more time and will be able to open it "without difficulty." The Strait of Hormuz, "to take the oil and make a fortune," Reuters recalls. However, experts interviewed by the agency noted that attempting to use force to open the Strait of Hormuz could lead to a prolonged war with Iran, which Trump expects to end in a matter of weeks.

"In an attempt to prevent Iran from developing weapons of mass destruction, the United States has given Iran weapons of mass destruction," Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group, told Reuters. He believes Iranian authorities understand that the ability to control the global energy market by blocking the Strait of Hormuz is "far more powerful than even nuclear weapons."

US President Donald Trump reportedly threatened Iran with "real hell" within 48 hours if Tehran doesn't reach a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz."


A year ago, Europe begged the United States not to leave it alone in the face of the Russian threat. Trump responded by refusing to supply Ukraine with free weapons, declaring: "America is not threatened across the beautiful ocean. If you want, buy weapons from us with your own money and give them to Ukraine."
Now that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, Trump is appealing to his European allies for help, declaring: "America doesn't need the Strait of Hormuz. If you want the Strait of Hormuz, send your fleet and open it."
But Europe refuses to fight Iran.
Even Israel, the only remaining US ally, is unwilling to join the Americans in a ground operation in Iran.

And who needs a ground war?

Trump abandoned all his allies for Israel, and now he is left completely without allies.
It's quite possible that Trump will soon realize the quagmire Netanyahu has driven him into.

That's when the fun begins

It seems no amount of bombing will help the US, and the occupation of Iran's islands and coastal areas will only draw the Americans deeper into the Iranian quagmire.
Drop everything and run away, like they did from Afghanistan?!🫢

Yeah, you can't envy Trump.

Fox News can confirm that the 2nd crew member of the downed F15E fighter jet has been rescued and he and the members of the rescue team that extracted him from behind enemy lines in Iran are all safely out of Iran. That according to two senior US officials and multiple well placed sources in the region. The Weapons Systems Officer ejected along with the pilot when their F15E Strike Eagle they were flying was struck Thursday night (early Friday local time) in southwest Iran.

The WSO used the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training to evade capture, hiding on an elevated ridge after hiking away from the wreckage and putting out an emergency beacon.) US Special Operations rescue forces to include PJs (United States Air Force Pararescuemen (PJs) and many layers of elite rescue forces took part in the complex, layered mission to both find the crew member and also keep the Iranian forces who were hunting the American weapons system operator at bay. There are videos that have appeared from local eyewitnesses that show what appear to have been injured and dead Iranian members of the IRGC and Basij who were looking for the downed American crew member. Fox has learned there was fighting on the ground but no Americans killed during the operation. “It was a very complex operation to retrieve the downed service member,” a well placed source briefed on the operation told me. Many different branches of the US military were involved in the rescue.

Fox News can confirm the A10 Warthog that crashed Friday was involved in providing cover for the rescue teams searching for the pilot. That A10 crashed in Kuwait (first reported by ABC Friday) but the A10 pilot managed to eject safely and was rescued. There was destruction of aircraft which have sensitive equipment on board, I am told, all part of this complex CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) mission.

The F15E was pretty much destroyed on impact. Two rescue helicopters were hit by enemy fire on Friday and crew members onboard were injured by enemy fire but managed to make it out of Iran.

There were a lot of elements to this rescue, I am told.

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contricusc said:

This sounds like the subject of a future Hollywood movie.

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If half of what's been written since last night is true then this is the greatest SOF raid of this century; god damn. Iranians are clueless. They brought in MH-6 Little Birds stuffed inside C-130s to use as fire support.

contricusc said:

This sounds like the subject of a future Hollywood movie.

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Yes, the world will watch movies of those who manage to pull off acts like that. Not many will remember the hundreds of school children (actually thousends with Gaza) they murdered.

500 said:

They were killed by roadside IED. Only Hezbollah uses them in Lebanon. Will you apologize?

Peacekeepers killed by roadside explosion in Lebanon, initial report finds

The deaths of the two Indonesian nationals came less than a day after another UN peacekeeper - also Indonesian - was killed in Lebanon.

www.bbc.com

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Doesn't prove anything. Just that it was a roadside bomb. It's not like the IDF dont know how to set up an IED.

Azeri441 said:

USAF Pararescue are too elite, and managed to rescue the downed pilot deep inside Iran

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It has nothing to do with elite, Iranian are weak. Look in this case ther would choppers and drones flying over the area with SIGINT equipments to locate the enemy. What wher the Persians doing? Local tribes searching for the enemy . Not even people from IRGC or the normal army.

They missed a big bargaing chip....

This is what happens when you lose air superiority. Iranian even not have enough MANPAD so in sparsely populated areas, there is space for special operations.
But that is not mean such of operation can be finished with no cost, US had lost two A-10, two C-130, two HH-60G and so on. And, they also claimed there were no casualties, but this is clearly not true.
How many times can they do such of action is a big question, Iranian is going to shot down more fighter in the future.

Satellite imaging company Planet Labs says it will indefinitely withhold Iran war imagery after a request from the Trump administration.

The limit to Satellite imaging company has less benefit to reduce Iran capability for target confirm, the mostly reason is to control OSINT and serving as propaganda to cover up battle damage.

Oublious said:

It has nothing to do with elite, Iranian are weak. Look in this case ther would choppers and drones flying over the area with SIGINT equipments to locate the enemy. What wher the Persians doing? Local tribes searching for the enemy . Not even people from IRGC or the normal army.

They missed a big bargaing chip....

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literally no other country would be capable of flying in C-130s and setting FOB deep inside enemy territory to rescue a single pilot and then getting everyone out

Azeri441 said:

literally no other country would be capable of flying in C-130s and setting FOB deep inside enemy territory to rescue a single pilot and then getting everyone out

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What kind of a comment is that?
Many countries can do what the Americans did in Iran.
So,it depends on where you do it,not if you can do it.
Think about it and come back.

Azeri441 said:

literally no other country would be capable of flying in C-130s and setting FOB deep inside enemy territory to rescue a single pilot and then getting everyone out

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Closest I think would be the Entebbe Raid and they had a fully functioning airport and the earlier failed Eagle Claw, also in Iran. Funny thing; CV-22 was entirely sold and later developed as a tailor built platform to combine the best sides of a cargo aircraft and a helicopter and it would be great in CSAR ops with lessons learned from Eagle Claw. But, there were no CV-22s deployed by the air force for this mission. 46 years after Eagle Claw, we once again saw cargo aircraft and helicopters to do the business instead of CV-22. I think it's less about the platform and more about highly trained and specialized aircrews still not "upgrading" to CV-22s.

Passenger said:

The limit to Satellite imaging company has less benefit to reduce Iran capability for target confirm, the mostly reason is to control OSINT and serving as propaganda to cover up battle damage.

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I can't really fault Americans for doing this tbh.

TR_123456 said:

What kind of a comment is that?
Many countries can do what the Americans did in Iran.
So,it depends on where you do it,not if you can do it.
Think about it and come back.

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Nope, I'm pretty sure this was unparalleled. Required total air supremacy; the gall to send in nearly unprotected MC-130s and HH-60s with overhead cover from F-35s and drones, MC-130s deploying MH-6s from their cargo bays, 30 hours of gunfight; not being able to take off with the stuck/damaged MC-130s so sending in more aircraft to retrieve everyone. They burned through like 5 aircraft and 4 helicopters to rescue one guy. We for example don't have that number of CSAR aircraft and certainly not the crews. Noone else in NATO does; Russians wouldn't bother saving one pilot; Chinese are entirely clueless about these kinds of ops. "Leave no man behind" motto is a wholly American thing that later trickled down to NATO countries through the decades. Others simply don't have this kind of mindset or operational readiness.

Sanchez said:

Nope, I'm pretty sure this was unparalleled. Required total air supremacy; the gall to send in nearly unprotected MC-130s and HH-60s with overhead cover from F-35s and drones, MC-130s deploying MH-6s from their cargo bays, 30 hours of gunfight; not being able to take off with the stuck/damaged MC-130s so sending in more aircraft to retrieve everyone. They burned through like 5 aircraft and 4 helicopters to rescue one guy. We for example don't have that number of CSAR aircraft and certainly not the crews. Noone else in NATO does; Russians wouldn't bother saving one pilot; Chinese are entirely clueless about these kinds of ops. "Leave no man behind" motto is a wholly American thing that later trickled down to NATO countries through the decades. Others simply don't have this kind of mindset or operational readiness.

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That not it,the French and British could do it in current Iran where there is almost no Air defence specially in that area/part of the country.
The Americans made the mistake of assuming they had a free hand,no defence at all.
If they had covered a 10/20 km radius with satelite coverage and more aircraft they would have done it without casualties.
Just a big miscalculation as they did many times before.

TR_123456 said:

That not it,the French and British could do it in current Iran where there is almost no Air defence specially in that area/part of the country.
The Americans made the mistake of assuming they had a free hand,no defence at all.
If they had covered a 10/20 km radius with satelite coverage and more aircraft they would have done it without casualties.
Just a big miscalculation as they did many times before.

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French have shown in the past that they don't have the capability in Africa during Barkhane and Serval other than the most simples CSAR ops and Brits simply don't have the capability.

Sanchez said:

French have shown in the past that they don't have the capability in Africa during Barkhane and Serval other than the most simples CSAR ops and Brits simply don't have the capability.

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What dont the French and British have the Americans do for such a rescue?
Similar situation to Afghanistan,no?

Sanchez said:

Closest I think would be the Entebbe Raid and they had a fully functioning airport and the earlier failed Eagle Claw, also in Iran. Funny thing; CV-22 was entirely sold and later developed as a tailor built platform to combine the best sides of a cargo aircraft and a helicopter and it would be great in CSAR ops with lessons learned from Eagle Claw. But, there were no CV-22s deployed by the air force for this mission. 46 years after Eagle Claw, we once again saw cargo aircraft and helicopters to do the business instead of CV-22. I think it's less about the platform and more about highly trained and specialized aircrews still not "upgrading" to CV-22s.


I can't really fault Americans for doing this tbh.


Nope, I'm pretty sure this was unparalleled. Required total air supremacy; the gall to send in nearly unprotected MC-130s and HH-60s with overhead cover from F-35s and drones, MC-130s deploying MH-6s from their cargo bays, 30 hours of gunfight; not being able to take off with the stuck/damaged MC-130s so sending in more aircraft to retrieve everyone. They burned through like 5 aircraft and 4 helicopters to rescue one guy. We for example don't have that number of CSAR aircraft and certainly not the crews. Noone else in NATO does; Russians wouldn't bother saving one pilot; Chinese are entirely clueless about these kinds of ops. "Leave no man behind" motto is a wholly American thing that later trickled down to NATO countries through the decades. Others simply don't have this kind of mindset or operational readiness.

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Source said this operation is not the only one in the few days, there were other tries for landing but failed.

Yes, China has zero preparing of such actions, but the right choice is avoid send any man drive aircraft to the air zone has not been controled.

So they landed 2 x C130 with probably 2 x 2 MH6 little bird helicopters inside (that is how many it can accommodate with rotors folded) and these helicopters and plane were totalled by US forces when IRGC units arrived and started a firefight and no one even were injured. Those MH6s have 2 crew members and 6 Special Forces soldiers each. C130 have a crew of 2-5 as well. That makes 36-40 men landed and their aircrafts were destroyed. But they all survived.
Then they were all extracted to safety with the one rescued pilot. (Do we know how the extraction occurred?)
That only happens in films!!

Going back to @TR_123456 ’s comments; If you have total air superiority and total control of enemy airspace over the area, any well trained special forces of a modern army can attempt such a rescue operation. But the area has to be well cleansed from ground forces too. Otherwise you lose aircrafts and personnel.

You send men in the land forces to attack heavily fortified enemy lines, knowing very well that many will not survive. Same logic has to be applied to airforce too. It is not good logic to put 40 men in to danger to save one. This is war!

The biggest achievement of IRGC in this war so far: they managed to captured US pilot underwear.