WATCH NOW: President Trump Does A Full Breakdown Of The Rescue Mission Of F-16E Crew Member In Iran

This is sure to be a box office hit one day.

Not even Hollywood could write a better story than this.

On Monday afternoon, President Trump shared a very detailed account of the rescue mission by U.S. special forces to locate and rescue a crew member of an F-16E fighter jet that was shot down in Iran.

In his detailed account, Trump noted that the airman was injured and was able to scale cliffs in order to stay undetected by Iranian forces who were attempting to locate him.

NBC News provided details on Trump’s remarks on the rescue mission:

During his press conference, Trump provided intricate details of the rescue over the weekend of the second airman in Iran.

“This is a rescue that’s very historic,” he said.

Trump explained that the airman, a colonel, had landed in Iran a “significant distance away from the pilot” who had been rescued on Friday.

Speaking about the second airman, Trump said, “He was injured quite badly and stranded in an area teeming with terrorists from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — rough group — as well as besieged military, militia and local authorities.”

Trump said Iranians were “given a tremendous incentive to find this pilot.”

“Despite the peril, the officer followed his training and climbed into the treacherous mountain terrain and started climbing toward a higher altitude, something they were trained to do in order to evade capture,” he said.

Trump said the airman scaled cliffs and was “bleeding rather profusely,” and treated his own wounds. The airman, he continued, “contacted American forces to transmit his location” using what Trump said is a “very sophisticated beeper-type apparatus” that he said “saved his life.”

“We immediately mobilized a massive operation to retrieve him from the mountain hold-out,” Trump said.

The rescue operation involved 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers and 13 rescue aircraft.

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“The heroic F-15 weapons system officer had evaded capture on the ground in Iran for almost 48 hours,” he said.

“In a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force, America’s military descended on the area,” Trump said, saying that the U.S. “engaged the enemy” and “rescued the stranded officer, destroyed all threats and exited Iranian territory while taking no casualties of any kind.”

Trump said that eventually there was a problem leaving Iran because of the “wet sand” and the “weight of the plane.”

“Then we also had all the men jumping back onto the planes, and they got pretty well bogged down. And we had a continued contingency plan which was unbelievable,” he said.

Trump said that “lighter, faster aircraft” flew in to take the Americans out of Iran with the airman. The U.S. destroyed the aircraft that were stuck in the sand, he said.

Watch President Trump do the full breakdown here:

JUST IN: President Trump breaks down the rescue mission to save the F-15 crew in Iran over the weekend.

Here is what he said:

– 155 aircraft in total were used to save the 2nd crew member.

– This included 4 bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, and… pic.twitter.com/XiTcxtWuiF

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 6, 2026

Backup here if needed:

NBC News also reported a fire fight occured during the rescue mission:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said that U.S. service members took on substantial enemy fire during the rescue of the American pilot last week.

Caine said that the search-and-rescue task force came “under fire” en route to rescuing the pilot of the plane that was shot down in Iran. He said that remotely piloted aircraft, drones and other tactical aircraft “were violently suppressing and engaging the enemy in a close in gun fight to keep them away from the front-seater and allow the pick-up force to get into the objective area.”

Caine explained that one of the pilots in the rescue operation “was hit by enemy fire.”

“This pilot continued to fight, continued the mission, and then upon exit, flew his aircraft into another country and determined that the airplane was not landable,” Caine said. “This was one of our A-10 Sandy aircraft. The pilot then made the decision to eject over friendly territory, and was quickly and safely recovered and is doing fine.”

He also added, “the trailing aircraft, took several hits. The crew sustained minor injury, and they are going to be fine.”

Gen. Dan Caine: "This was an incredibly dangerous mission, an incredibly dangerous undertaking, but a filled promise made to every American warfighter — that you will not be left behind. We will always come find you, and we will always bring you home." pic.twitter.com/MppRVXdD9V

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 6, 2026