A deception campaign and reaper drones: How US commandos rescued airman trapped in Iran in ‘daring’ operation

NewsWorldMiddle EastA deception campaign and reaper drones: How US commandos rescued airman trapped in Iran in ‘daring’ operationThe US and Iran raced to recover the stranded airman first after air defences brought down an F-15E jetJames C. Reynolds Sunday 05 April 2026 10:47 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2952041","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/trump-f15-us-pilot-rescued-iran-b2952041.html","title":"How US commandos rescued airman trapped in Iran in ‘daring’ operation"}}CloseOne crew member rescued after US F-15 shot down over Iran while search continues for other pilotOn The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"Middle East","regSourceMethod":"NSCs"}}US special...