In the middle of one of the most delicate operations of the war, The United States carried out a covert incursion into the territory of Iran to rescue the second crew member of a downed F-15E Strike Eaglein a mission that combined special forces, air support and a key component that is just beginning to come to light: a deception campaign designed to confuse Iranian forces.

On Friday, Iran shot down a US F-15 fighter on its territory. One of the two crew members was rescued shortly after, but the other was still missing, triggering a frantic search that lasted until Saturday.

In an interview with Axios, Trump said the Iranian military shot down the F-15 with a portable missile. “They were lucky,” he said.

This was the pilot’s rescue operation

According to United States media, the second pilot was in a mountainous area from the province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, place that is low operational control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The pilot had a gun, a goal and a encrypted and secure communications device to coordinate with rescuers, The New York Times reported.

Trump told Axios that the pilot managed to send a messagebut it was initially feared that he was a captive and that in reality he was a trap by Iran to try to ambush US forces to come to his rescue.

Then it was certain that the message was real.

The New York Times reported that That first message from the pilot was sent 14 hours after his plane was shot down, Therefore, it is presumed that the aviator was unconscious upon landing, which is why he was initially unable to establish contact.

Wounded, the pilot walked and hid in the mountains to avoid capturewhile drones MQ-9 Reaper They bombarded the Iranian forces that were searching for him and trying to approach their position with missiles.

In an attempt to confuse the Iranians, who were offering a $60,000 reward for information on the pilot’s location or capturethe CIA orchestrated a diversionary maneuver: spread false information indicating that he had already been rescued and that he was going to be taken out of Iran by landaccording to the New York Times.

Iranian media had reported that Many people had traveled to the area to look for the soldier, but the army had asked that “no one mistreat the pilot.”

“The Iranian army was searching for him intensely, with a large contingent, and was getting dangerously close,” stated Trump in one of his messages.