Donald Trump has praised the US fighter pilots who was rescued from an Iranian mountain over the weekend.
The airman was on board an F-15E Strike Eagle jet that was shot down by Iran on Friday, the first US aircraft to be downed by Iranian fire since the US and Israel launched the war at the end of February.
While a second crew member was located shortly after the crash, Sky News understands he was left stranded in rural Iran, and was rescued on Sunday.
At a press conference at the White House on Easter Monday, the US president said that both pilots were “incredibly brave” and that Iran was “not so strong like they were about a month ago”.
Here’s what we know about the airman’s condition, the mission to rescue him, and what the president and Iran have said.
Iran war latest: Trump praises ‘brave’ US pilots after rescue
How did the US save the airman?
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After the crash on Friday, official and semi-official Iranian news organisations reported that a regional governor had offered a bounty for the F-15E crew – around $60,000 (£45,360).
A US official told the Reuters news agency the plane was flying over Isfahan province when it was brought down, and the two airmen ejected separately.
They said that the first pilot was rescued while the second airman – a jet’s weapons specialist, and according to Mr Trump on Truth Social a colonel – remained in Iran.
Speaking to Reuters, the US source said the American officer sprained his ankle in the crash and hid in a crevice on a hilltop.
The airman later established contact with the US military and confirmed his identity.
After this, a senior Trump administration official said the CIA had run a deception campaign earlier, hoping to confuse Tehran by planting information that US forces had already located the missing airman and were moving him before the operation took place.
An official told Reuters the US military then took additional steps, jamming electronics and bombing key roads around the location to prevent people from getting close.
They said the aircraft eventually sent to extract the airman and rescue forces were smaller turboprop aircraft, capable of landing on small airfields and relatively light.
What happened during the rescue mission?
The initial search effort encountered fierce resistance, with two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search reportedly hit by Iranian fire but escaped.
In a separate incident, a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, the officials said, though the extent of crew injuries was unclear.
The conflict has killed 13 US military service members, with more than 300 wounded, the US Central Command says. No US troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.
Two MC-130 aircraft that ferried some of the roughly 100 special operations forces into rugged terrain south of Tehran suffered a mechanical failure and could not take off.
Their commanders made a high-risk decision, ordering additional aircraft to fly into Iran to extract the group in waves.
US troops then destroyed the disabled MC-130s and four additional helicopters in Iran.
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What has Trump said?
During the operation, Mr Trump was relatively quiet online, with a local reporter checking if he was at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC.
After the mission was finished though, the US president said on Truth Social: “Over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History”.
He added that the airman was injured, but “he will be just fine”, before saying: “This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory.
“WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!”
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At an Easter event at the White House, Mr Trump said of the rescue that “normally you’re in very hostile territory, and I don’t think it gets much more hostile than (Iran) are, and they’re capable fighters”.
“You don’t mind when the enemy is weak, but that enemy is strong, not so strong like they were about a month ago, I can tell you”, he added.
“In fact, right now they’re not too strong at all in my opinion, but we’re soon going to find out, aren’t we?”
The US president also said that “what we did yesterday is we picked up not one – we picked up two” – referring to the first pilot thought to be rescued. It’s unclear whether he misspoke.
He added: “We kept the first one quiet, and we were able to keep it quiet for about a day, which made it a lot better. But those two pilots were incredibly brave, and we thank them.”
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What has Iran said?
Iran’s state TV showed on Sunday a picture of black smoke from what it said was a destroyed American transport plane and two helicopters.
Iranian state media on Friday also said a second US plane – an A-10 aircraft – crashed after being hit by Iranian forces.
The US military has not commented on the status of that aircraft or its crew.
And on the US’s rescue efforts on Sunday, Iran said several aircraft were destroyed.
