Fact-based journalism that sparks the Canadian conversation

Articles Business Environment Health Politics Arts & Culture Society

Special Series Hope You’re Well For the Love of the Game Living Rooms In Other Worlds: A Space Exploration Terra Cognita More special series >

For the Love of the Game

In Other Worlds: A Space Exploration

More special series >

Events The Walrus Talks The Walrus Video Room The Walrus Leadership Roundtables The Walrus Leadership Forums Article Club

The Walrus Video Room

The Walrus Leadership Roundtables

The Walrus Leadership Forums

Subscribe Renew your subscription Change your address Magazine Issues Newsletters Podcasts

Renew your subscription

The Walrus Lab Hire The Walrus Lab Amazon First Novel Award

Amazon First Novel Award

A Daring US Rescue in Iran Highlights a War Going Sideways

Saving two airmen was a tactical success in a conflict with no clear path to victory

The successful rescue of a second downed United States airman from Iranian territory brought to a close a fraught moment in the US-initiated war. There was much at stake.

Decode the stories behind the headlines with The Walrus newsletter. Sign up for The Walrus newsletter and get trusted Canadian journalism straight in your inbox.

First and foremost, the well-being of the pilot. Beyond that, the reputation of the US military, and the political standing of the US president facing a war gamble that has spun out of control.

The Iran war is over a month old, shows no signs of abating, and has spread throughout the Middle East; Iran’s resistance is profiting from aid from Russia and China, as well as the support of other elements of the “axis of resistance” including Hezbollah and, more recently, the Houthis in Yemen. Wealthy Gulf states find themselves the targets of Iranian drone and missile strikes. A US war “victory” against Iran seems nowhere in sight. A success was desperately needed.

On the Iranian side, the capture of the pilot would have amounted to a propaganda triumph and created huge leverage in any negotiations to end the war. Even the downing of the US F-15 warplane allowed the Iranian regime to claim that American control of the air was a mere myth and that American strategy had failed.

President Donald Trump announced the rescue on Truth Social on the morning of April 5. Naturally, he celebrated “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US history.” All CSAR (combat search and rescue) operations are risky and complex. They require intelligence to locate and track the downed aircrew and to keep a watch on any closing in of enemy forces. To effect a rescue, a CSAR mission requires that any enemy air defences or air capabilities be destroyed, so that means putting lots of combat aircraft in the sky. You need helicopters or, in this case, larger........

© The Walrus