Retired US Marine Corps Col Brendan Kearney tells the BBC that the success rate on this sort of operation is “usually very, very low”.

Although the airman would have had capabilities to communicate, it is an "electronic nightmare" because "all it takes is for one person to spot him", Kearney says.

“You can’t panic under any circumstances," he adds.

He says some reporting suggests the airman may have had to "move to high ground and stay hidden", calling it a "testament to his training".

Chris Partridge
BBC News weapons analyst

The CIA also played a crucial role in the rescue operation, CBS reports.

It's reported the US intelligence agency tracked the airman in a mountain crevice and passed on the airman’s exact location to the Pentagon.

It also engaged in a deception campaign inside Iran. While the rescue attempt was taking place, the agency spread word the airman had already been found and was being extracted from Iran.

CBS, citing a senior White House official, reports Donald Trump ordered an immediate rescue.

Trump later said on Truth Social: "At my direction, the U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine.”

Chris Partridge
BBC News weapons analyst

It's becoming clear this rescue was a hugely complex operation involving significant US military resources, with hundreds of special forces personnel, several dozen warplanes and helicopters tasked with the search.

CBS News describes how the airman, the Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) who sits in the second seat of the F-15E Strike Eagle, was injured during the ejection process over southern Iran.

The downed jet was first F-15E Strike Eagle to be shot down in combat in more than 20 years.

The "Wizzo", a colonel who has not been named, suffered some injuries but is reported to have been able to walk away, evading capture for more than a day. He was armed only with a handgun.

US forces are reported to have used bombs and weapons fire to keep Iranian troops away from the officer’s location. A firefight broke out too, it is reported, with Iranian troops.

Two of the five US transport planes used in the rescue are reported to have not been able to take off from inside Iran. They were destroyed to stop them being captured.

Trump is turning a propaganda problem into a cause for celebrationpublished at 08:05 BST 5 April

08:05 BST 5 April

Joe Inwood
World news correspondent

"WE GOT HIM!”

That was how Donald Trump began his social media post announcing the rescue of the second airman.

He is, unsurprisingly, claiming this as a great victory for the US military, turning what had been a potential propaganda problem into a cause for celebration.

For 48 hours, he had faced the prospect of a serving US airman, who we now know was a colonel, being captured by Iran and most likely paraded on state TV.

Pro-Iranian social media accounts had previously sought to take advantage of the search. Some posted a video of a Lego airman being chased by locals, while others shared AI-generated images of the officer enjoying Iranian hospitality.

A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guard had called it a “black and humiliating” day for the US.

Certainly, the fact that the jet was shot down in the first place did make some of the more bombastic statements from the Trump administration about the destruction of Iran’s air defence look somewhat foolish.

But, in pulling off what was undoubtedly a daring and dangerous rescue, Trump will be hoping to reclaim the initiative, when many feel the direction of this war had been slipping from his grasp.

US President Donald Trump is celebrating the recovery of a second US airman after a fighter jet was shot down over Iran, capping off a high-stakes rescue mission that unfolded over the course of the weekend.

Here's a day by day look at how the news broke.

On Friday, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported the US was searching for one of its pilots after a jet was reportedly downed over Iran. This was later confirmed to multiple Western media outlets by US officials, who said the jet was an F-15E.

The governor of Iran's southern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province said the priority was “capturing" any downed US crew "alive”, with a reward offered for their capture.

Shortly before 12:00 EDT (16:00 GMT), CBS reported one crew member from the downed F-15 fighter jet has been rescued, according to two US officials.

The outlet went on to report two aircraft involved in the rescue mission also came under fire. An A-10 Warthog was hit, with the pilot ejecting over the Gulf, where he was rescued. Crew members onboard a helicopter carrying the recovered pilot were treated after being injured by small arms fire.

There were limited updates on the search on Saturday.

Just before 00:00 EDT (04:00 GMT) today, Sunday, US media reported the second pilot had been found.

Minutes later, Trump took to Truth Social to say the missing pilot is "SAFE and SOUND" and that while he sustained injuries "he will be just fine".

A moment of relief for Trump as retaliatory attacks continue in Gulfpublished at 07:24 BST 5 April

07:24 BST 5 April

Lorna Gordon
Reporting from Dubai

This was a moment of potential crisis for the US.

With Iran racing to find the airman and offering a reward to find him, the US could have faced a prisoner of war situation with the captured crew used for Iranian propaganda.

It will be a big relief for America's commander in chief that the weapons officer has been found in what he called the most "daring" rescue in US history.

President Trump is hailing the operation as a great victory that proves that the US has achieved air dominance over the Iranian skies.

Iranian strikes, which the Islamic Republic says are in retaliation for the US-Israel attacks on it, continued across the Gulf overnight. Attacks were reported in Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait, where a government building and an oil complex were targeted.

Two power generation and water desalination plants were also hit by what Kuwaiti authorities said were Iranian drone strikes.

Katie Williams
Live reporter

A US airman who was missing in Iran has been rescued in what President Donald Trump calls "one of the most daring" rescue operations in American history.

What we know

• Both crew members from the downed F-15 fighter jet have now been rescued - the pilot and the weapon systems officer
• The second crew member "sustained injuries" but "will be just fine", Trump says - the BBC understands injuries may have happened when the crew ejected from the aircraft after it was struck by Iran
• Trump says no Americans were killed or wounded in the rescue
• The BBC understands there was "engagement" between US and Iranian forces during the operation

What we don't know

• The full scale of operation, although Trump has said the US military sent "dozens of aircraft"
• Whether US military assets were damaged. However, Iran says a US drone was shot down while searching for the airman, and video footage from Friday shows individuals shooting at Black Hawk helicopters
• The exact location of the rescue - although BBC Verify has mapped key locations based on video footage

Before we got official word that the missing US crew member had been rescued, Iranian state media were reporting air strikes that killed at least four people in an area of Iran where the American was thought to have been.

The Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, quoted a local governor earlier as saying at least three people had been killed in the strikes in a mountainous area of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, in south-west Iran. The governor blamed the strikes on the US and Israel.

Since then, Fattah Mohammadi, deputy governor of the province, has told local Iranian media that the death toll has risen to four.

It's unclear whether these strikes were at all connected to the rescue mission of the missing American.

Iranian media is reporting that troops from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have shot down a US drone while it was searching for the missing airman.

The American drone crashed in Iran's southern Isfahan province, the IRGC's public relations office is quoted as saying, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

The reports are yet to be confirmed by the US.

Before the US president confirmed the missing American crew member had been found, Iranian locals had joined the search.

Videos on social media appear to show hundreds of people heading to a mountainous area in south-western Iran to search for the missing US airman.

Iran' military had even offered a bounty - an amount of around £50,000 ($66,100) – to anyone who captured the crew member alive.

Iran claimed to have shot down the US F-15 jet warplane using its air defence system. The pilot of the aircraft was rescued by US forces in the aftermath but the second crew member, a weapon systems officer, had been missing for more than a day.

Trump said in his post to Truth Social that the US military "sent dozens of aircraft" to Iran to rescue the missing crew member.

Trump described the location of the missing weapon systems officer as "behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran".

Earlier reports suggested the missing crew member might be in the mountainous area of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, in the southwestern regions of Iran.

In his post on Truth Social announcing the rescue of the crew member, Trump also shares that the operation was carried out "without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded".

This comes after our White House reporter writes that there was "engagement" between the US and Iranian forces during the rescue.

Trump signs off: "GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, AND HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!"

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

Current and former officials I've been in touch with tonight are already celebrating the rescue.

"The US military has an ethos to never leave someone behind," says Mick Mulroy, a former US Marine, CIA paramilitary officer and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East.

"Today was an incredible example of that core commitment.

"The US military, the intelligence community and especially those that carried this out, deserve the gratitude of the American people," he adds.

"He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine," Trump continues in his Truth Social post about the retrieved crew member.

The "miraculous" mission comes after the rescue of "another brave pilot" yesterday, which Trump says "we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation".

He writes: "WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!"

US President Donald Trump has just shared to Truth Social that the missing American crew member is SAFE and SOUND" after being rescued by US military forces.

"WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History," Trump says.

Trump went on to say the missing crew member, "a highly respected Colonel" ... who "was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies" but that fellow US forces "were monitoring his location 24 hours a day".

Trump said he was thrilled to say he is "now SAFE and SOUND!"

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

The second American crew member from the F-15 fighter jet that was downed over Iran has been recovered, US media reports.

The circumstances of the rescue remain unclear, but it came after what one person familiar with the operation described as a "huge" combat search and rescue mission in southern Iran.

The BBC understands that there was an engagement between the US and Iranian forces during the rescue, and that the pilot may have been injured during his initial ejection from the aircraft.

US media are reporting that US forces have rescued the crew member missing from the F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over southern Iran on Friday.

Image source, Getty Images

The US and Iran have exchanged threats to unleash "hell", as the search for a missing US airmen continues after a US fighter jet was downed in southern Iran. Here's a recap:

Trump and Iran exchange threats

• US President Donald Trump threatened to rain down “hell” on Iran if it does not make a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz in the next 48 hours
• Iranian military officials later said the “entire region will become hell” for the US and Israel if military action against Iran escalates

Downed US jet

• There's been little update today on the downing of the jet, or the operation to rescue the missing American crew member
• The missing airman, a weapon systems officer, was aboard a US F-15 fighter jet that was downed in southern Iran. The pilot of the plane has been rescued by US forces, US media report - read more on what we know here

We're now pausing our live coverage. Read our full story here.

US President Donald Trump has shared a video on his Truth Social platform which he says shows a "massive strike" on the Iranian capital of Tehran.

He claims "many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else" following the strike.

The video shows large explosions filmed at night - we do not know exactly where and when it was filmed.

No further details have been provided by the US, and there has been no response from Tehran to Trump's claims.

Search for missing airman presents serious test for USpublished at 22:22 BST 4 April

22:22 BST 4 April

Simi Jolaoso
North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

As a reminder, US and Iranian forces are searching for a missing American crew member after a US warplane was shot down - here's what we know so far.

President Donald Trump had said Iran couldn't "do a thing" about American aircraft operating over its territory, insisting its air defences had been significantly weakened.

His Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also said the US had achieved "air superiority" over Iran.

So Friday's downing of a F-15 Eagle is a significant blow to Washington DC.

It suggests Iran is still able to defend its skies, even if at a limited capacity. The stakes could rise further, though, depending on who the missing weapons systems officer is captured, or rescued, by.

The BBC understands President Trump's national security team spent much of Thursday in the West Wing briefing him on a search-and-rescue mission that came under Iranian fire.

Publicly, the president has played down this entire incident and suggested it won't affect negotiations with Tehran to end the war that began with US and Israeli strikes on 28 February.

But privately, this is likely to be of serious concern.

• Read more: Search for missing airman presents serious test for US