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US secures second pilot from downed F-15E over Iran as war enters sixth week

New Delhi: US forces have recovered the second missing crew member from an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over southwestern Iran, officials confirmed early Sunday, capping a high-stakes search-and-rescue operation carried out under heavy fire. The dramatic recovery, seen in shaky nighttime footage aired by Al Jazeera and widely shared on social media, came hours after the Pentagon said one crew member had already been pulled to safety. The second airman was located and extracted after intense combat operations involving US helicopters and support aircraft near the crash site, according to multiple reports citing military sources. Fox chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin confirmed that the F-15E weapons systems officer hid on an elevated ridge using SERE training to evade Iranian forces hunting him after ejecting from the downed jet. The incident marks the first confirmed shoot-down of a US warplane since the Iran war began and came as the conflict entered its sixth week. It took place on April 3, barely two days after President Donald Trump said in a prime-time national address that the US had "beaten and completely decimated Iran". A separate incident involving a US A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft was also reported in the Persian Gulf the same day. Iranian state media claimed the aircraft was hit by Iranian air defences and crashed into the sea. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press it was still unclear whether the plane was shot down or suffered a mechanical failure. The two incidents have underlined the growing risks facing US and allied forces as the conflict deepens. Iran has responded to sustained US and Israeli strikes by stepping up attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and tightening pressure on oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint that has pushed up global energy prices and rattled economies worldwide. Meanwhile, Iranian state media said five people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli strike on petrochemical facilities in the Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Economic Zone in southwestern Iran. The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the complex was "responsible for producing and exporting chemical materials to the regime's armed forces" and was being used to manufacture explosives, ballistic missiles and other weapons. In a video statement posted on X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the campaign would continue. "After we destroyed 70 per cent of its ability to create steel, which is used as the raw material for the weapons used against us, today we attacked their petrochemical factories," Netanyahu said. "I promised you that we will continue to crush the terrorist regime in Tehran, and that is exactly what we are doing." Back in Washington, the White House sought to project resolve ahead of President Trump's Monday deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Communications director Steven Cheung posted on X: "There has never been a President who has worked harder for the American people than President Trump. On this Easter weekend, he has been working nonstop in the White House and Oval Office. God Bless him." Trump, who usually spends weekends at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, has remained in Washington and held a series of closed-door meetings since his Wednesday address on Iran. In another sign of rising international concern over the conflict, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni became the first EU leader to visit the Gulf since the war began. In a video message released on Saturday from Doha, Meloni said her two-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates was aimed at showing solidarity with countries "that continue to suffer unjustified attacks by Iran" while also protecting Italian interests. "Energy prices affect companies' costs and families' purchasing power," she said, noting that Italy gets 10 per cent of its natural gas from Qatar and 15 per cent of its petroleum needs from the wider Gulf region. "When instability increases in the Gulf, not just the international balance is impacted, but also our economic future," Meloni said. With the second crew member now rescued, the US can point to a rare operational success. But the broader conflict shows no sign of easing. As both sides push to control key airspace and waterways, the war's military and economic costs are becoming harder to contain.

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