A seriously wounded American colonel is safe after U.S. special operations forces extracted him from deep inside Iran's mountains, nearly 48 hours after his F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down.

The rescue required hundreds of troops, a CIA-orchestrated deception campaign, MQ9 Reaper drones, B-1 bombers, and every tactical jet in the American inventory to keep Iranian forces at bay while operators closed in on their man.

President Trump announced the news Saturday night on Truth Social: "We got him." By Sunday morning, he called it "an AMAZING show of bravery and talent by all."

Senior administration officials told Fox News that the CIA spread false word through multiple sources inside Iran that U.S. forces had already recovered the second airman and were conducting a maritime exfiltration elsewhere. The deception bought critical time to locate the stranded weapons system officer while Iranian forces searched in the wrong direction.

This wasn't a clean, quiet extraction. It was a wartime rescue conducted under fire, deep in hostile territory, with an enemy closing in by the hour. And it worked.

From distress signal to boots on the ground

The timeline tells a story of institutional competence firing on all cylinders. The CIA picked up a distress signal from the missing airman and passed the intelligence to the Pentagon and White House. There was immediate concern the beacon was an Iranian trap. "There was a lot at stake here."

Once CIA Director John Ratcliffe's team confirmed Saturday morning that the signal was authentic, the missing colonel was located using advanced technical capabilities. Ratcliffe informed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan "Raizin'" Caine, and ultimately President Trump.

A senior source described the speed of the response:

"Within eight hours, we had planes in motion. Within almost 12 hours we were on the ground in Iran."

The urgency was not abstract. American officials knew exactly what capture would mean.

"We've seen before what they do with prisoners. We were going to expend every effort to make sure we got to him first."

Israeli intelligence assisted the CIA in confirming the airman's location and ruling out the trap scenario, even halting its own attacks in the area to facilitate the American mission, an Israeli security official told Reuters.

The full weight of American firepower

The operation was not subtle. U.S. forces used MQ9 Reaper drones to establish a protective perimeter around the airman's hiding position and fired on anything that approached, whether near the airman or near the operating forces. A senior U.S. official described the scale:

"We executed multiple large-scale strikes in the surrounding area using every tactical jet in the U.S. inventory and B-1 Bombers to keep him safe."

This came after the first crew member, the pilot, had already been rescued in broad daylight in an operation that kept American forces over Iranian territory for seven hours. Trump noted that such raids are "seldom attempted because of the danger to 'man and equipment.'"

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards claimed through the Tasnim news agency that several aircraft were destroyed during the rescue, including a C-130 transport plane and two Black Hawk helicopters. Those claims have not been confirmed by U.S. officials.

What this operation reveals

The successful extraction of a wounded American servicemember from deep inside enemy territory tells the world something that years of diplomatic equivocation never could: the United States will come for its people.

Consider what this required. Intelligence agencies coordinating a deception operation in real time. A president authorizing a high-risk mission within hours of confirmation. Hundreds of military personnel executing under fire in mountainous terrain. CIA, Pentagon, and Israeli intelligence working in seamless concert. No American casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu captured the significance in a statement Sunday morning:

"This proves that when free societies muster their courage and their resolve, they can confront seemingly insurmountable odds and overcome the forces of darkness and terror."

Trump, writing on Truth Social Saturday night, described the colonel as a "brave Warrior" who "was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone."

The message to Tehran

The rescue did not soften the president's posture. It sharpened it. Trump followed the announcement with an expletive-laced ultimatum tied to a 10-day deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers.

"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!"

He added: "Open the F--in' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell."

The juxtaposition is deliberate. America just demonstrated it can operate deep inside Iranian territory, locate a single wounded man in the mountains, deceive Iran's own intelligence apparatus, and extract him under fire. If that's what the U.S. military marshals for one colonel, Tehran can do the math on what comes next for infrastructure targets.

An Oval Office news conference is set for Monday at 1 p.m. ET. The colonel is safe. The message has been delivered. Now the clock ticks on the Strait.