This is how the rescue of the downed US pilot in Iran went

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• The crew member of the downed US fighter jet missing in Iran has been found by US search teams, according to media reports.
• US special forces had rescued the weapons officer, the US news portal "Axios" reported early this morning, citing three US officials.
• Hundreds of special forces, dozens of aircraft, drones and helicopters are said to have been deployed.

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A US weapons officer whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran has been rescued by US special forces in a high-risk commando operation. "We got him," wrote US President Donald Trump in capital letters on his Truth Social platform. The soldier was injured but is now safe. He will be fine, Trump wrote. According to consistent media reports, the pilot of the F-15E shot down on Friday had already been rescued earlier. Trump has now also officially confirmed his rescue.

The operation for the second crew member followed a two-day "race to the death" between US and Iranian forces to reach the injured air force member, the New York Times quoted US officials as saying. The US soldier had been hunted by "our enemies", who were closing in on him by the hour, Trump wrote. US special forces had advanced "deep into enemy territory" to rescue him, the newspaper wrote. According to Trump, they were flanked by dozens of fighter jets.

"Fierce firefights" during rescue operation

The Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera quoted a US official as saying that there was ultimately a "fierce firefight". In the end, according to theNew York Times, the US commandos were able to rescue the injured officer, accompanied by hundreds of special forces. He was "never really alone", Trump wrote. The US military command had monitored his location in the mountains "around the clock". It was one of the most daring search and rescue operations by the US military in US history, the President continued.

Rescue planes flew the weapons officer to Kuwait for medical treatment, according to the New York Times. However, there was one last obstacle that delayed the man's rescue. Two transport planes that were supposed to take the task forces and the weapons officer to safety were stuck in Iran, a US military official was quoted as saying. Three replacement aircraft had been deployed to rescue the US soldiers. They had blown up the two planes left behind to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, it was said.

This ruse is said to have helped with the rescue

A deliberately spread rumor is said to have led the Iranian units on the wrong track before the US rescue mission. According to the research portal "Axios", the US foreign intelligence service CIA spread the information within Iran that US forces had already found the missing officer. The pilot was safe and had been evacuated from Iran.

The false claim was intended to distract Iranian fighters from the imminent deployment of US special forces. Dozens of planes, drones and helicopters were only deployed after the report was disseminated. The soldier was finally located and found. "This was the ultimate search for a needle in a haystack, but in this case it was a brave American soul in a crevice who could only be tracked down thanks to the CIA's skills", according to the news portal "Axios".

Iran offered a reward for US soldiers

Iranian media had reported that large sums of money had been promised for the capture of the US soldier. Iranians had pointed their smartphones at the sky to follow the rescue operation, reported the Wall Street Journal. Video footage showed Iranians firing into the air and attempting to shoot down US helicopters that resembled the helicopters involved in the rescue operation, it said.

If Iran had found the crew member first, the leadership in Tehran could have used this as leverage, according to experts. If the crew member had been captured and pictures had been published, this would have had a further negative impact on the already critical attitude of the American public towards the war, Laurel Rapp, Director of the North America Program at the Chatham House think tank, told the BBC.

Trump claims again: Have air supremacy in Iran

The US government and Trump in particular have repeatedly suggested in recent weeks that US aircraft no longer need to fear attacks in Iranian airspace. The USA had achieved air sovereignty. "Trump said Iran had been "destroyed". Then an American F-15E fighter jet was shot down," wrote the US television station NBC.

After the rescue of the second crew member of the F-15E, the US president wrote that no American soldier would ever be left behind. The fact that the rescue mission could be carried out without an American being killed or wounded proves "once again that we have gained overwhelming air superiority over Iranian airspace".

Trump renews threat

Trump had previously threatened Iran again with severe attacks if Tehran did not comply with his ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz. "Time is running out - 48 hours before all hell breaks loose," he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. The conditions would be met if Iran agreed to a deal or opened the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had threatened to have Iran's power plants destroyed if Iran did not fully open the strait, which is important for the global oil and gas trade, to shipping "without threats". He postponed his ultimatum for this once again last week. He announced that there would be no attacks on Iranian power plants until April 6 (US local time, night of April 7 German time), referring to "very good" talks.

Iran continues counter-attacks

Meanwhile, five weeks after the start of the US-Israeli attacks, Iran continued its counter-attacks against Israel and Gulf states that host US military bases. According to the Ministry of Energy in Kuwait, two electricity and desalination plants were significantly damaged by Iranian drones. There were no casualties, it said.

The state news agency Kuna reported, citing the ministry, that another drone hit a Ministry of Finance building, also causing considerable material damage. There were no injuries there either, it said. According to the Ministry of Information, a drone also hit a plant belonging to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. There were no casualties there either.

Israel also came under renewed fire from Iranian missiles during the night and its air defenses were again deployed. There were initially no reports of casualties. On Saturday, residential buildings in the suburbs of Tel Aviv were heavily damaged by rocket fire, according to media reports. Four people were injured. At the same time, a drone belonging to the Iran-aligned Houthi militia from Yemen was intercepted.

Meanwhile, Israel's army announced this morning that its air force had attacked more than 120 air defense and missile systems in central and western Iran in the past 24 hours.