Overview
- U.S. officials confirmed early Sunday that a night operation in southwest Iran extracted the missing weapons systems officer and flew him to a hospital in Kuwait.
- The F-15E Strike Eagle, which Iranian air defenses downed on April 3, saw both crew eject, with one rescued within hours and the second found after two days of searches.
- U.S. accounts say the rescued airman used SERE survival training and an emergency beacon to evade capture, and rescue teams exchanged fire with IRGC and Basij units without U.S. fatalities.
- President Trump praised the rescue and said the U.S. position in talks would not change, while keeping an April 6 deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
- Air and missile exchanges continued over the weekend as U.S. and Israeli strikes inside Iran were followed by Iranian drone and missile attacks that damaged energy sites in the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait, with the IAEA noting a report of an incident near the Bushehr nuclear plant.