Category: Foreigners

Late Saturday afternoon, reports began circulating online that the U.S. had located the weapons systems officer (WSO) from the F-15E fighter that got shot down Friday in Iran. The pilot had been rescued almost immediately after the plane went down, but finding the WSO was more difficult, and the effort to rescue him was quite risky:

U.S. special operations forces rescued the second crew member from a downed F-15E fighter jet in Iran after a “heavy firefight,” successfully extracting both airmen and all rescue personnel from the country, according to multiple reports.
U.S. officials told Axios and Fox News the high-risk combat search-and-rescue mission recovered the weapons systems officer more than a day after the aircraft was shot down, concluding a complex operation that unfolded behind enemy lines.
Officials described the shootdown as a “worst-case scenario,” with U.S. forces racing to recover the crew before Iranian units could capture them.
The second crew member was located on Saturday, triggering a rescue effort as Iranian forces, including elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also raced to the area to locate the downed airman.
U.S. air assets conducted strikes to prevent Iranian forces from closing in, while special operations units on the ground executed a layered extraction under fire.
The weapons systems officer had evaded capture after ejecting alongside the pilot, using Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training to move away from the wreckage and take cover on elevated terrain while activating an emergency beacon, according to reporting cited by Fox News.
There was fighting on the ground during the mission, though no U.S. personnel were killed, according to sources familiar with the operation.

It has been reported that two C-130 cargo planes, which carried rescue forces into Iran, had to be destroyed after their landing gear got stuck on the makeshift landing strip. One of my favorite moments of Saturday night was when Toby Harden confirmed the rescue:

The missing WSO from the shot-down USAF F-15E is now safe and back in American hands. An officer involved in monitoring the CSAR in southern Iran describing the aviator’s incredible tenacity: “He evaded up a 7k ridge. They’ve been schwackin’ dudes chasing him all day. Was nuts.”…

— Toby Harnden (@tobyharnden) April 5, 2026

A personal anecdote: In January 2012, when I went to cover the Republican primary campaign in South Carolina, my then-13-year-old son Jefferson pleaded to come with me, so I took him along. On the night of the Myrtle Beach debate, I filed my story, then told Jefferson to pack up the laptop and go wait for me in the lobby, while I went to meet some friends in the lobby bar. Having spent 10 or 15 minutes schmoozing with campaign operatives, I went to find Jeff and — he was gone! I looked everywhere, even got in my car and drove across the street to our hotel to see if he’d just decided to walk back, then returned to the convention center to keep looking. It was there that I encountered Toby Harnden, who was covering the campaign for the Daily Mail. When I explained to him that my son was missing, Toby offered to help look for him, so we split up — “You go this way, I’ll go that way” — and kept looking until Toby found him, asleep on a bench near the entrance to the ballroom where the debate had been staged. (Apparently, Jeff had misunderstood which lobby I meant for him to wait in — I’d meant the adjoining hotel lobby.) Anyway, Toby’s assistance in my moment of need earned him my enduring gratitude, and once he had confirmed the crewman’s rescue Saturday night, I knew it was the real deal.

"The op basically cost $300 million because they had to abandon the two AFSOC C-130s and the four MH-6 Little Birds. Then the U.S. Air Force had to use multiple bombs to blow up all the aircraft they abandoned at that airstrip. And the Iranians shot down 2 MQ-9s Reaper drones.… pic.twitter.com/xw5h2DkwwC

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) April 5, 2026

 

Do me a favor: Somebody translate this into Farsi, and bring it to the attention of the surviving “leadership” in Tehran, because they obviously don’t know what time it is — it’s time to quit, fellows:

The U.S. military is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.
The unit is considered the Army’s emergency response force and can typically be deployed on short notice. The force would include a battalion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team as well as Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, the division’s commander, and division staff, according to the people, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans or private conversations.
It’s the latest addition of American troops to the Iran war effort after U.S. officials recently said thousands of Marines aboard several Navy ships will be heading to the region.
While the Marine units are trained in missions that include supporting U.S. embassies, evacuating civilians and disaster relief, the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, are trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields.

You have two choices, Iran: You can surrender, or you can die.

Do you realize that the 82nd Airborne is the best light infantry division on the planet? They can jump out of planes, or they can deploy on helicopters, but once they’re on the ground, they are just combat infantry, and the reason they are “considered the Army’s emergency response force” is because they are trained to a high state of readiness. Every morning begins with a two-mile run, and they do so much physical training, they’re like a team of professional athletes, except there are thousands of them, they carry guns, and every one is a skilled marksman.

Speaking of planes and helicopters and deployment, however, let’s ask a few questions: How many planes and helicopters does Iran’s military have left at this point? Pretty sure it’s close to zero. We’ve wiped out the Iranian air force and sunk the Iranian navy, and if the Iranian army now wishes to get in on the action, exactly how does Iran’s surviving military leadership propose to transport their troops into battle? What, they’re going to ride in trucks? And won’t those truck convoys of Iranian troops be easy targets, rolling down the road, observed in real time by our high-tech surveillance, ready to send bombs and missiles to blow them up?

See, 21st-century warfare isn’t just “boots on the ground.” It’s technology and logistics, and the current state of Iran’s military logistics is FUBAR. (Is there a Farsi synonym for FUBAR?) There is talk about the U.S. seizing Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, and I don’t know if that’s true, but suppose it is. Exactly how does Iran propose to defend Kharg Island? How many Iranian troops are on the island now? Are there enough troops on the island to withstand an assault by a Marine expeditionary force, backed up by a battalion from the 82nd Airborne, with the assistance of the 75th Ranger Regiment and whatever Special Forces commando teams might get involved in such an operation?

All told, we’re sending more than 5,000 troops — and perhaps twice that number — toward the Persian Gulf theater of operations, and the Iranian leadership must have some ballpark estimate of how many troops they’ve got on Kharg Island. Pretty sure it’s not enough to deal with all the firepower the U.S.A. could bring to bear on that location, but let’s not even think about that yet. Because, you see, troops have got to eat.

However many troops Iran has on Kharg Island, every one of them consumes a certain number of calories daily, and how much of a stockpile of food do they keep handy on that island? Remember, we sank the Iranian navy, which means that now there is no way that the Iranian regime can send any more food (or troops, weapons, supplies, etc.) to Kharg Island. Whatever the existing Iranian military presence is on that island, they’re not going to be able to get any help or reinforcement if, as it’s said we’re planning, U.S. troops show up to take the island by force.

Iranian demands for end to the war include the closure of all U.S. bases in the Gulf, guarantees of no further attacks, an end to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, the lifting of all sanctions on Iran, war damage reparations, and no restrictions on its missile program. – WSJ… pic.twitter.com/EtbPtvl1PB

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 25, 2026

Iran has demands? Are you kidding me with this?

Look, I know for a fact that Trump did not — and still does not — want to have to order ground troops into combat in Iran. He sincerely doesn’t want a “forever war” and using ground troops will almost certainly involve casualties more numerous than the handful of unfortunate losses we have suffered so far. Even a one-sided victory over whatever force the Iranians might have on Kharg Island would likely involve dozens of U.S. casualties, and Trump doesn’t want that if he can avoid it.

But the Iranian leadership has demands? We’ve already killed so many of their leaders, we’re dealing with third-string Shiite fanatics at this point and, like I said, Iran’s also lost its air force and navy, so the idea that they’re in any position to make demands is downright insulting. Operation Epic Fury is now in Day 27, and we’ve struck something like 9,000 targets in Iran so far. We’ve blown up so much of their stuff that we’re at risk of running out of targets. The guys running the Pentagon obviously have some very detailed plans for what the Army and Marines can do in Iran — a hunch tells me it’s probably more than just taking Kharg Island — but the Commander-in-Chief would prefer to avoid that, if the Iranian leaders would just decide they don’t want to be the next guy with a mug shot and the word “ELIMINATED” next to it.

Death From Above is coming for you, fellows. And the only way you can stop it is two words — unconditional surrender. Do the right thing.