The missing airman who was shot down over Iran has been rescued.

The unnamed weapons systems officer hiked to q nearby mountain range, and the Central Intelligence Agency directed the rescue.

U.S, officials said that they detected the crew member’s distress beacon but said that there was a risk that the beacon was an Iranian trap.

However, once it was confirmed that the beacon was not a trap, the CIA gave the go-ahead for the rescue.

The U.S. military then carried out a deception campaign, in which they claimed that the downed airman had already been rescued.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe informed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan “Raizin'” Caine and, ultimately, Trump.

“Within eight hours, we had planes in motion,” the source said. “Within almost 12 hours we were on the ground in Iran.

The U.S. military used MQ9 Reaper drones to protect the area around where the airman was hiding. They fired on anything that came close to that area and any area where U.S. forces were operating to prevent crowds or any Iranians from approaching.

“We executed multiple large-scale strikes in the surrounding area using every tactical jet in the U.S. inventory and B-1 Bombers to keep him safe,” according to a senior U.S. official.