Americans have reportedly successfully rescued both members of the F-15E shot down over Iran.
CBS News — which may have been reluctant to report yet another impressive win for the Trump administration in Iran — said U.S. forces rescued the pilot on Friday and the other crew member early Sunday local time. The report of the second crew member’s rescue made for a remarkable Easter miracle.
BREAKING: A U.S. crew member who went missing when an F-15E fighter jet was downed over a remote area of Iran was rescued by U.S. forces early Sunday morning local time, multiple U.S. officials told CBS News. The jet’s pilot was rescued on Friday. pic.twitter.com/0c5rnRhrdQ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 5, 2026
The report came out very early in the hours of Sunday morning Eastern time. “CBS News has learned that the second American crew member from the downed F-15E in Iran was rescued by Special Forces Sunday morning, local time, according to multiple U.S. officials,” the CBS reporter began. “The second crew member, a weapon systems officer, was one of two people on board, both airmen ejected.”
She continued, “U.S. officials said the pilot of that aircraft was rescued Friday a short time after Iranian forces downed the aircraft over western Iran. That pilot’s condition has not yet been released.”
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which is in charge of executing Operation Epic Fury against the terrorist Iranian regime, did not release a statement either late Saturday or early Sunday, April 5.
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CBS News National Security Coordinating Producer James LaPorta came on CBS after the initial breaking news, with the reporter enthusing, “He is a U.S. Marine veteran, infantryman, and veteran of the Afghanistan War. James, what are we learning right now about how this rescue mission came together and how the airman was ultimately brought to safety?”
LaPorta replied, “Yeah, so this was really a race against time. From the moment that F-15 went down, it was a race for U.S. forces to try to retrieve both pilots. And separately, from, you know, separate from this event, there was another train that went down on Friday. We had an A-10 that was shot down. That pilot ejected and was rescued, and he is safe. But, from the moment, since that F-15 was shot down, it was a race.” Notably, U.S. officials say the A-10 “crashed.”
But LaPorta continued, “So, combat search and rescue access were launched, and they were able to recover the pilot….However, they were not able to, as you pointed out, they were not able to rescue the weapon systems officer.” That obviously is a situation now rectified, very thankfully.
LaPorta rambled a little, but what he said revealed the rescued American’s heroism. “The weapons systems officer, uh, you know, was, had been hiding with… essentially no more than a pistol to defend himself for the last 48 hours. And so, you know, multiple U.S. military assets came into play, along with intelligence capabilities, fiber operations came into play, even our space assets came into play in order to rescue this American.”
What wonderful news for Easter morning.
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