‘Miraculous’: US rescues second pilot downed in Iran, Trump confirms

Iran claims another US aircraft involved in the rescue of the F-15 fighter pilot has been shot down.The United States has rescued the second crew member of a US F-15 jet shot down, President Donald Trump confirms, as Iran claims another US aircraft involved in the rescue has been downed in the province of Isfahan.“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday. “He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine.”Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Iran’s coastline: architecture of controllist 2 of 3Universities hit as US, Israel ramp up attacks on Iran’s infrastructurelist 3 of 3How will Pakistan deal with the fallout from Iran war?end of listThe airman, who Trump said held the rank of colonel, was the second member of a two-person crew of an F-15 that Iran said on Friday had been brought down by its air defences.“This miraculous search and rescue operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave pilot yesterday, which we did not confirm because we did not want to jeopardise our second rescue operation.”The rescue resolves a crisis for the White House with the war on Iran in its sixth week.The first member of the crew had been rescued, triggering a high-stakes search for the remaining airman by both Iran and the US.Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said there had been no confirmation or denial from the Iranians on the pilot’s rescue.“Over the past 24 hours, we have witnessed continuous air strikes on the location where the fighter jet was downed,” he said.Another plane down?Separately on Sunday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it shot down a US aircraft that was looking for the missing officer in the southern province of Isfahan, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.