Missing US airman rescued as Iran steps up attacks on neighbors

Yi Wei Wong, Bloomberg News on Apr 5, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

U.S. forces rescued an airman who went missing on Friday after Iran downed an American fighter jet in the country, President Donald Trump said.

The rescue operation for the crew member of the F-15E jet was conducted along with “dozens” of U.S. military aircraft, Trump said in a Truth Social post early Sunday. The mission spanning two days involved hundreds of special operation troops, with U.S. aircraft dropping bombs and firing on Iranian convoys to keep them away from the airman’s hiding area, The New York Times reported.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran,” Trump said. “He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine.”

The jet carrying two people was shot down on Friday, and the other crew member was reported to have been saved earlier. Trump said the U.S. didn’t confirm the first rescue to avoid jeopardizing the second operation. Iranian media reported Tehran had offered a reward of about $66,000 to citizens who captured the missing airman alive.

The downing of a U.S. aircraft and the search for the crew member had pierced the aura of invincibility that Trump has sought to project as he tries to stave off the increasing political risks of the Iran war he started more than a month ago alongside Israel.

Trump has repeatedly claimed dominance over Iranian airspace and used maximalist rhetoric to suggest the U.S. has won and that Iran’s military capability has been eliminated in an effort to calm markets and an American public that is strongly opposed to the war. Analysts have said the downing of the jet cast doubt on Trump’s claim of air supremacy over Iran.

Earlier this weekend, Trump threatened to unleash “all hell” on Iran as early as Monday, saying the 10-day deadline for the country to make a peace deal with the U.S. was running out. Iran has shown little sign of accepting Trump’s demands for peace and has laid out its own conditions — most of them unacceptable to the U.S. and Israel.

The president has warned that if Iran doesn’t agree to his terms and open the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic out of the Persian Gulf, the U.S. would bomb the country’s civilian energy infrastructure, strikes that could constitute a war crime under international law.

Iran announced Saturday that Iraq, a major oil producer, would be exempt from its shipping restrictions in the strait, allowing as much as 3 million barrels a day of Iraqi oil cargoes. An Iraqi official struck a cautious note, saying the outflow depends on whether shipping companies are willing to risk entering the strait.

Tehran continued its barrage of attacks on its neighbors. Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said early Sunday that its headquarters caught fire after a strike by unmanned drones. The damaged building also houses the emirate’s oil ministry. There were also drone attacks on two power and distillation plants that resulted in “significant material damage,” Kuwait News Agency reported, citing an electricity ministry spokesperson.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry reported on Sunday that its civil defense was “taking measures to control a fire in a facility as a result of the Iranian aggression,” without citing the location and type of facility. The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry also said Sunday that its systems are actively engaging with missiles and drone threats.

The Israeli military said it hit a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran Saturday, claiming it produced military substances. Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency said five people died in the attack and 170 were injured.

Other attacks targeting the perimeter of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant left one security staff member dead, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The main sections of the facility, where Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom has workers, were unaffected, Tasnim said.

(Omar Tamo contributed to this report.)