US President Donald Trump was swift to declare victory after the second crew member of an F-15 downed over Iran was recovered, claiming on Sunday that the successful rescue "proves, once again, that we have achieved overwhelming air dominance and superiority".

Observers, however, paint a more complicated picture of what this means for the US in Iran.

While the mission was successful, the events of the last few days - in which two aircraft were downed and at least one helicopter hit by gunfire - highlight that threats to US aircraft and personnel remain.

Several Washington sources who spoke to the BBC speculated that the loss of aircraft and the complexity of the operation to recover the pilots could potentially dissuade Trump from any ground operation to take Kharg Island and sites in the Persian Gulf, or to seize highly enriched uranium in Iran.

These operations could be complicated, and risk exposing US forces to lingering Iranian capabilities, including difficult-to-find man portable air defence systems, known as Manpads, which are shoulder-launched weapons most effective against low flying aircraft.

On the other hand, the fact that US troops were able to enter a contested environment, and set up a forward airfield and refueling point under the nose of the Iranians - then hold it for hours while two stuck aircraft were destroyed and replacements sent - might embolden him.

It could convince the administration that an airborne or amphibious operation against targets in Iran stands a good chance of success.

Trump also has sent mixed messages about the path forward, telling reporters in a series of phone calls that he believes a "deal" with Iran could be just around the corner.

If that fails, he has said repeatedly on Truth Social, that the clock is ticking on a self-imposed deadline to begin striking Iranian power plants and bridges, leaving Iran "living in hell". In a brief phone interview with Fox, Trump also suggested he might move to "take" Iran's oil, without providing further details.

An expanded campaign against Iranian infrastructure and energy targets would represent an escalation, and detractors are likely to take it as a sign of frustration that the US has been unable to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump's comments over the weekend stand in contrast to several he made last week, including a televised address on 1 April, in which he suggested that the US already has created the conditions necessary for other countries to engage in the Strait.

Also, Trump has suggested that he was willing to "leave" Iran even if a deal eluded him. But he now appears to have shifted course in the hopes that the threat of devastating attacks on a new set of Iranian targets can prompt Tehran's leadership to come to the table.

The US military has rescued a missing crew member in a dramatic night-time mission after his fighter jet was shot down in a remote part of Iran.

The exact circumstances remain unclear, but the operation to extract him from the ground in hostile territory was hugely complex.

Hundreds of special forces, as well as dozens of US fighter jets and helicopters, were involved in the plan, along with the CIA.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said on social media: "We have rescued the seriously wounded, and really brave, F-15 Crew Member/Officer, from deep inside the mountains of Iran."

But the airman's ordeal began on Friday with reports that an F-15 jet, which was carrying a weapons systems officer and a pilot, had been shot down over southern Iran.

The incident was the first US fighter jet to be shot down by enemy fire in more than 20 years.

The two US military personnel on board the F-15E Strike Eagle managed to eject from the aircraft, and the pilot was rescued the same day, but the second crew member was missing.

The US then began a race against time to locate him.

Iran made it clear they wished to capture him alive and offered a bounty of £50,000 ($66,100).

Videos shared on social media, which have not been verified by the BBC, appeared to show armed civilians searching for him.

Once the officer was on the ground, he had only a handgun to defend himself, US officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

The airman would have received training for a situation like this, and it would have involved turning his beacon signal on, getting to high ground, concealing himself and establishing communications.

According to reports in US media, the airman hid himself in a mountain crevice and restricted the use of his beacon - concerned the signal could be picked up by Iran.

He then waited for his rescuers to arrive.

The CIA played a crucial role in the rescue operation, according to a senior Trump administration official who spoke to US media.

According to CBS News, it was the US intelligence agency that tracked the airman's exact location to the mountain crevice and passed the information along to the Pentagon.

Trump said his location was monitored "24 hours a day" by senior US officials who were planning the rescue operation.

The officer was "being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour," the president added.

The CIA also ran a deception campaign, according to reports, spreading word inside Iran that US forces had already found the second airman.

The president said in his Truth Social post that the US military "sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him".

As US special forces made their way towards the location of the stranded officer, bombs and weapons fire were used to keep Iranian troops away from his location, CBS reported.

There were varied reports from Iranian state media and the US media about how the operation was carried out, which the BBC has been unable to verify.

Iranian state media said on Sunday that troops from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down a US drone over Isfahan while it was searching for the missing airman.

CBS News also reported that two US transport planes tasked with flying out rescue crews were unable to take off from an Iranian airport, and were destroyed to stop them from falling into the hands of Iranian forces.

Special forces then flew out on three extra aircraft to collect the crews, US media said.

Footage and photos confirmed by BBC Verify appeared to show a smouldering aircraft wreckage in a mountainous area of central Iran, about 50km (31 miles) southeast of the city of Isfahan.

Iran's military said two US C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters were destroyed during the operation - and that "a deception and escape mission at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan…was completely foiled".

The BBC has not been able to confirm either statement or report.

Before midnight US time the rescue was complete, and the airman was flown to Kuwait for medical treatment, officials told CBS.

Trump said the officer was "seriously wounded", but "he will be just fine".

US authorities have not disclosed any information about the airman's exact location when he was rescued, or his identity.

Former US military official William Fallon - a retired US Navy admiral - told the BBC that "time of day" probably worked in the rescue mission's favour. "Darkness is better for our people because they're used to operating at night."

Fallon says that when flying over hostile territory, "you have to be prepared to be the person that's hit".

Just before 00:00 EDT (04:00 GMT) on Sunday US media broke the news that the second pilot had been found.

Trump wrote on social media that the US would "NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!"

The US military has rescued a missing crew member in a dramatic night-time mission after his fighter jet was shot down in a remote part of Iran.

The exact circumstances remain unclear, but the operation to extract him from the ground in hostile territory was hugely complex.

Hundreds of special forces, as well as dozens of US fighter jets and helicopters, were involved in the plan, along with the CIA.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said on social media: "We have rescued the seriously wounded, and really brave, F-15 Crew Member/Officer, from deep inside the mountains of Iran."

But the airman's ordeal began on Friday with reports that an F-15 jet, which was carrying a weapons systems officer and a pilot, had been shot down over southern Iran.

The incident was the first US fighter jet to be shot down by enemy fire in more than 20 years.

The two US military personnel on board the F-15E Strike Eagle managed to eject from the aircraft, and the pilot was rescued the same day, but the second crew member was missing.

The US then began a race against time to locate him.

Iran made it clear they wished to capture him alive and offered a bounty of £50,000 ($66,100).

Videos shared on social media, which have not been verified by the BBC, appeared to show armed civilians searching for him.

Once the officer was on the ground, he had only a handgun to defend himself, US officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

The airman would have received training for a situation like this, and it would have involved turning his beacon signal on, getting to high ground, concealing himself and establishing communications.

According to reports in US media, the airman hid himself in a mountain crevice and restricted the use of his beacon - concerned the signal could be picked up by Iran.

He then waited for his rescuers to arrive.

The CIA played a crucial role in the rescue operation, according to a senior Trump administration official who spoke to US media.

According to CBS News, it was the US intelligence agency that tracked the airman's exact location to the mountain crevice and passed the information along to the Pentagon.

Trump said his location was monitored "24 hours a day" by senior US officials who were planning the rescue operation.

The officer was "being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour," the president added.

The CIA also ran a deception campaign, according to reports, spreading word inside Iran that US forces had already found the second airman.

The president said in his Truth Social post that the US military "sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him".

As US special forces made their way towards the location of the stranded officer, bombs and weapons fire were used to keep Iranian troops away from his location, CBS reported.

There were varied reports from Iranian state media and the US media about how the operation was carried out, which the BBC has been unable to verify.

Iranian state media said on Sunday that troops from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down a US drone over Isfahan while it was searching for the missing airman.

CBS News also reported that two US transport planes tasked with flying out rescue crews were unable to take off from an Iranian airport, and were destroyed to stop them from falling into the hands of Iranian forces.

Special forces then flew out on three extra aircraft to collect the crews, US media said.

Footage and photos confirmed by BBC Verify appeared to show a smouldering aircraft wreckage in a mountainous area of central Iran, about 50km (31 miles) southeast of the city of Isfahan.

Iran's military said two US C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters were destroyed during the operation - and that "a deception and escape mission at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan…was completely foiled".

The BBC has not been able to confirm either statement or report.

Before midnight US time the rescue was complete, and the airman was flown to Kuwait for medical treatment, officials told CBS.

Trump said the officer was "seriously wounded", but "he will be just fine".

US authorities have not disclosed any information about the airman's exact location when he was rescued, or his identity.

Former US military official William Fallon - a retired US Navy admiral - told the BBC that "time of day" probably worked in the rescue mission's favour. "Darkness is better for our people because they're used to operating at night."

Fallon says that when flying over hostile territory, "you have to be prepared to be the person that's hit".

Just before 00:00 EDT (04:00 GMT) on Sunday US media broke the news that the second pilot had been found.

Trump wrote on social media that the US would "NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!"

US President Donald Trump was swift to declare victory after the second crew member of an F-15 downed over Iran was recovered, claiming on Sunday that the successful rescue "proves, once again, that we have achieved overwhelming air dominance and superiority".

Observers, however, paint a more complicated picture of what this means for the US in Iran.

While the mission was successful, the events of the last few days - in which two aircraft were downed and at least one helicopter hit by gunfire - highlight that threats to US aircraft and personnel remain.

Several Washington sources who spoke to the BBC speculated that the loss of aircraft and the complexity of the operation to recover the pilots could potentially dissuade Trump from any ground operation to take Kharg Island and sites in the Persian Gulf, or to seize highly enriched uranium in Iran.

These operations could be complicated, and risk exposing US forces to lingering Iranian capabilities, including difficult-to-find man portable air defence systems, known as Manpads, which are shoulder-launched weapons most effective against low flying aircraft.

On the other hand, the fact that US troops were able to enter a contested environment, and set up a forward airfield and refueling point under the nose of the Iranians - then hold it for hours while two stuck aircraft were destroyed and replacements sent - might embolden him.

It could convince the administration that an airborne or amphibious operation against targets in Iran stands a good chance of success.

Trump also has sent mixed messages about the path forward, telling reporters in a series of phone calls that he believes a "deal" with Iran could be just around the corner.

If that fails, he has said repeatedly on Truth Social, that the clock is ticking on a self-imposed deadline to begin striking Iranian power plants and bridges, leaving Iran "living in hell". In a brief phone interview with Fox, Trump also suggested he might move to "take" Iran's oil, without providing further details.

An expanded campaign against Iranian infrastructure and energy targets would represent an escalation, and detractors are likely to take it as a sign of frustration that the US has been unable to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump's comments over the weekend stand in contrast to several he made last week, including a televised address on 1 April, in which he suggested that the US already has created the conditions necessary for other countries to engage in the Strait.

Also, Trump has suggested that he was willing to "leave" Iran even if a deal eluded him. But he now appears to have shifted course in the hopes that the threat of devastating attacks on a new set of Iranian targets can prompt Tehran's leadership to come to the table.

The family of a 13-year-old who died in a crash have paid tribute to a "fun, bright, handsome, athletic" boy who was "incredibly well-liked".

Noah Campbell died in a collision between a car, a bike and a scooter in Flitwick, Bedfordshire, at 23:50 BST on Friday.

Two other teenage boys were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

In a statement issued by police, Noah's family said they were "utterly devastated". Two people have been charged in connection with the crash.

The family statement said: "Above all else, he cherished spending time with his friends and family; they were the heart of his world.

"While football was his favourite sport—playing for many local teams—he was a gifted all-rounder who excelled in rugby, cricket, and athletics.

"Outside of organised sports, Noah stayed active and adventurous; he loved challenging himself at the gym and spending time at the bike park."

It added: "Noah's death has left a hole in our lives that will remain forever."

The tribute came on Sunday as police confirmed a 24-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman had been charged in connection with the collision in Greenfield Road.

Jamie Fountain, of Fir Tree Close, Flitwick, was charged with causing death by careless driving and causing death by careless driving while over the legal limit for alcohol and drugs.

He was also charged with two counts of causing serious injury by careless driving in relation to two other boys who were injured.

Fountain was further charged with failing to stop at the scene of an accident, failing to report an accident and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Ellie Ireland, of Wingate Drive, Ampthill, has been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

They have both been remanded in custody to appear before Luton Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Of the two boys taken to hospital, one remains in hospital in a serious condition.

The other has been treated for serious injuries and has been discharged, police confirmed.

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Seven people have been arrested on suspicion of supporting the banned group Palestine Action during peace protests at an RAF base.

Five men and two women were arrested on Sunday outside the main gate of Lakenheath airbase during a peace encampment against the Iran war, Suffolk Police said.

The protest followed reports from some media outlets that a US fighter jet shot down in Iran on Friday had been based at Lakenheath.

A spokesperson for Suffolk Police said those arrested had been held on "suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation".

"They have been taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning", they added.

"Suffolk Police has a duty to enforce the law without fear or favour and as it currently stands, not as it might be in the future.

"As such, where offences are believed to have occurred appropriate action will be taken."

The High Court ruled the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful in February, but also granted the Home Office leave to appeal against the decision, leaving the proscription in place pending the outcome of the appeal.

Sunday's action was part of a six-day peace camp involving an around-the-clock vigil outside the base, set to end on Monday.

In a statement, Lakenheath Alliance For Peace said the arrests happened after retired colonel Chris Romberg had made a speech to protesters.

Suffolk Police also confirmed two people had been charged with wilful obstruction of the highway over a blockade at the base on Saturday.

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No serving leader in the European Union has led their country for as long as Viktor Orbán. But after 16 years he faces his strongest challenge yet in 12 April elections, where most opinion polls suggest he is heading for defeat at the hands of former party insider, Péter Magyar.

Since 2010, Orbán has transformed Hungary into what the European Parliament has denounced as a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy". He appears uncertain how to describe his own invention. He has tried both "illiberal democracy", and "Christian liberty". His allies in the US Maga movement call it "national conservatism".

Orbán has repeatedly clashed with European Union colleagues on the war in Ukraine, blocking vital funding for Kyiv, which he accuses of trying to force Hungary into war with Russia.

And yet he has powerful international allies.

He is considered Vladimir Putin's strongest partner in the EU, and he has been endorsed by US President Donald Trump in his bid for a fifth consecutive term in office. His closest allies within the EU come from the radical and hard right.

His antagonism towards Brussels still pays off with many Hungarians, but Orbán has cut an increasingly lonely figure among EU leaders looking for European unity in response to the war in Ukraine.

His Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, recently admitted personally sharing details of EU meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but called those conversations "everyday diplomacy".

"Orbán and his foreign minister left Europe long ago," Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk observed.

His personal charisma has been an unquestionable ingredient of his success, but polls suggest many of his supporters have tired of him and the corruption allegations that have swirled around his party.

Orbán appeared rattled when he was booed during a March campaign speech in the north-western town of Győr.

This was a very different Orbán from the man whose ex-football trainer once highlighted his ability to "think on the ball".

This was a leader who rolled up his sleeves and stacked sandbags alongside firemen and volunteers, when toxic red sludge from a bauxite mine engulfed a Hungarian valley and threatened the Danube shore in 2010.

Now 62, Orbán first made his mark while still a law student in Budapest in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union began to fall apart, setting up a political movement called Fidesz, or Alliance of Young Democrats.

"If we believe in our own power, we are able to finish the communist dictatorship," he told an estimated quarter of a million Hungarians during an audacious seven-minute speech. They were gathered in the city's Heroes' Square for the reburial of the man behind Hungary's failed uprising in 1956, Imre Nagy.

Reflecting on his words 10 years later, he said he had "exposed everyone's silent desire for free elections, and an independent and democratic Hungary".

The democracy that replaced authoritarian Soviet rule has changed dramatically under Orbán, who according to Hungarian-born journalist Paul Lendvai has moved "from one of the most promising defenders of Hungarian democracy into the chief author of its demise".

Prof Andras Bozoki, a former culture minister, describes Hungary since 2010 as being "the only one former consolidated liberal democracy in the EU that has reached the level of a non-democratic system as a hybrid regime".

Viktor Orbán was born in 1963 an hour to the west of Budapest, the eldest of three sons whose father was an agricultural engineer and Communist Party member and whose mother was a special needs teacher.

They had no running water at the family home in Felcsut, a village of about 2,000 people where he still owns a house.

In an 1989 interview, he recalled being beaten twice a year by his father, Gyozo, whom he described as a violent man: "When he beat me, he also shouted. I remember all this as a bad experience."

Nothing about his childhood suggested that he would go on to challenge the communist regime. He attended a grammar school and was involved in the Young Communist League.

His main interest was football, playing for his local club, FC Felcsut, and he remains highly enthusiastic about his childhood sport. In 2014 he inaugurated a controversial new stadium there called the Pancho Arena, where top-flight team Puskás Akadémia plays to small crowds.

In the months before he went to university, he carried out his military service, where he says he turned down an approach from the communist secret services to become an informer.

He was 23 when he married fellow student Anikó Lévai, whom he met at university. They have five children, four daughters and a son, Gáspár, who was trained by the British Army at Sandhurst and served as an officer in the Hungarian army in Chad.

After his 1989 speech to a large crowd in Heroes' Square, he went on to study liberal political philosophy briefly at Oxford. His scholarship was funded by Hungarian-born billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a benefactor he would turn against years later.

Within months he had abandoned his studies early to campaign in 1990 elections, when Fidesz won 22 seats, with Viktor Orbán top of the party list.

Friends from his student days became key members of Fidesz, and his college director Istvan Stumpf went on to take up the role of his chief of staff during the first Orban premiership from 1998-2002.

As a young MP, Viktor Orbán and his party joined the global Liberal International movement in 1992.

Political scientist Zoltan Lakner believes he shifted ideology during the second half of the 1990s. As Hungary was governed by a liberal-socialist coalition, he realised "to gain political success he had to turn his back on liberalism and transform his party into a nationalist, anti-liberal political force".

Perhaps the seeds of his reversal were already sown at Oxford. In his few months at Pembroke College, he befriended the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton.

Or perhaps it was more political opportunism.

Orbán became Fidesz leader in 1993, and was already pushing it to the centre right by the time the conservative MDF lost power in 1994. Fidesz filled the gap left by the weakened conservatives.

Peter Rona, an Oxford-based economist and former candidate for president of Hungary, describes a meeting in the early 1990s, at which Orbán said he wanted to create a "modern conservative party".

When Peter Rona warned him that earlier politicians who had attempted the same thing had quickly dropped the "modern" when circumstances demanded, Orbán replied: "Then so be it."

In 1998, Orbán led Fidesz to election victory, and at 35 became Europe's youngest prime minister, taking Hungary into Nato in 1999.

He then suffered two defeats at the ballot box, in 2002 and 2006, and on both occasions the Fidesz leader learned his lessons.

The defeat in 2002 changed him. "The nation cannot be defeated," he told his supporters, as he tried to digest what had just happened.

After 2002, Orbán befriended Árpád Habony, a martial arts instructor and businessman, as his personal guru. Habony became a trusted ally and component in the business empire that underpinned Fidesz.

Orbán was swept back into office in the turbulence of the global economic crisis in 2010 and has not lost since.

He has since transformed Hungary with a host of changes to its laws and constitution, winning four consecutive elections with four straight "super-majorities", controlling two-thirds of parliament.

In an attempt to secure his legacy, more than 40 "cardinal laws" were passed, reshaping state institutions, the economy, election laws and the media.

The economy was stabilised, public finances were secured and EU funds came in.

However, expensive state projects were placed in the hands of Orbán's inner circle, including a childhood friend and a son-in-law.

Fidesz and its supporters gradually took control of Hungary's media landscape, replacing foreign investors, says Hungarian media monitor Mertek.

In 2018, almost all "Orban-friendly media" transferred ownership rights to a foundation called Kesma, whose board was made up of Fidesz MPs and the head of a Fidesz-friendly think tank, according to Mertek.

For several years, Hungary has been labelled the EU's most corrupt country by Transparency International.

The European Parliament, both in 2018 and 2025, has warned of persistent threats to rule of law. Billions of euros in EU funds for Hungary has since been frozen.

The EU is one of several targets that Orbán has set his sights on in recent years.

His latest stand-off with EU leaders means €90bn in funds for Ukraine has been put on hold because of a Hungarian veto.

Sandor Csintalan, both a former ally and critic of Orbán, has spoken of "a constant need to radicalise himself", which places him apart from other European conservatives.

Ukraine has become another core issue for the long-time Hungarian leader, while for years he focused on George Soros and migrants.

In 2013 political consultants George Birnbaum and Arthur Finkelstein gave him the idea of creating Soros as an enemy.

"Soros was a good target," Birnbaum explained, "because enough people in Hungary didn't like the idea of this billionaire… like the Wizard of Oz, controlling politics and policy, from behind the curtain".

Orbán accused George Soros's civil society groups of "trying secretly and with foreign money to influence Hungarian politics". A poster-campaign condemned by critics as antisemitic targeted the philanthropist, although Orbán has been able to point to his support for Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject the accusations.

The Soros-founded Central European University, set up in 1991 as Hungary embraced democracy, was forced to move most of its activity to Vienna in 2019.

In July 2015, as refugees and irregular migrants entered the EU over Hungary's borders in increasing numbers, Orbán drew a "clear link between illegal immigrants coming to Europe and the spread of terrorism".

The solution was clear, he said: "We would like to keep Europe for Europeans... also we want... to preserve Hungary for Hungarians."

A fence was built on the Serbian border and new laws were introduced criminalising migrants. A "Stop Soros" law in 2018 criminalised those who helped irregular migrants, and the EU's top court ruled that Budapest had failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law.

Going into the 12 April vote, Ukraine has become Orbán's main campaign focus, as he accuses Volodymyr Zelensky of blocking Hungary's oil supply and his opponents of wanting to hand Hungarian money to Kyiv.

Although he has been able to rely on Trump and Putin for political support, his claim to be protecting Hungary from leaders who wage war has become increasingly shaky.

He has not experienced electoral defeat since 2006. Despite the support of both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, he is now facing the biggest test of his political career.

A second US crew member who was missing in Iran after an American F-15 fighter jet was shot down has been rescued.

Posting to social media, US President Donald Trump said the rescued weapons systems officer had "sustained injuries" but would be "just fine", describing the rescue as "one of the most daring search and rescue operations in US history".

Following the downing of the aircraft on Friday, both the pilot and crew member ejected - with the pilot recovered shortly afterwards.

Following this, both the US and Iran scrambled to locate the missing crew member in a mountainous region of southwestern Iran.

The search presented a serious test for the US, with the possibility of a prisoner of war situation if Iran found the missing airman - something which would have likely involved him being used as part of propaganda material.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was said to have launched its own search for the missing American, reportedly using troops and locals, and offering them a reward of about $66,000 (£50,000) to capture him alive.

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

Details of the second airman being rescued emerged in US media late on Saturday night.

A short time later, Trump confirmed the successful mission on Truth Social, writing "WE GOT HIM!", adding the crew member was a "respected colonel".

The US rescue operation was described to the BBC as "huge" by one person familiar with the details.

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.

Tasnim, the semi-official news agency associated with the IRGC, said five Iranians were killed during the operation.

Trump said dozens of aircraft had been involved in the operation, with the White House not giving an update after the pilot was recovered on Friday to protect the ongoing rescue.

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.

Officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the crew member spent more than 24 hours on his own, hiding in the mountains with a handgun.

A senior official also told CBS that the CIA played a crucial in the rescue mission by tracking the airman in a mountain crevice and passing his exact location to the Pentagon.

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

Meanwhile, Iran's IRGC previously said that nomadic tribes living in the country's mountains shot two Black Hawk helicopters that were part of the US rescue mission.

BBC Verify has confirmed a video from Friday showing what appears to be three armed individuals firing towards at least two Black Hawk helicopters.

The rescue operation reportedly included an A-10 Warthog aircraft which was hit over the Gulf, with its pilot ejecting before being rescued.

The recovery of the F-15 crew member comes as intense fighting continues in the region.

On Sunday morning, authorities in Abu Dhabi said they were battling fires at a Borouge petrochemical facility caused by falling debris from an Iranian missile. There were also report of attacks on Kuwait and Israel overnight into Sunday.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has convened an emergency meeting of the National Defence Council after explosives were found near a pipeline that transports Russian gas to Hungary.

The discovery in a border area of neighbouring Serbia comes as Orban's party is badly trailing in opinion polls ahead of crucial elections next Sunday.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar accused him of "panic-mongering" orchestrated by "Russian advisers", days after security experts warned of a possible "false flag" operation that could be blamed on Ukraine.

Orban, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has resisted EU calls to abandon Russian energy imports since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In recent weeks Hungarian security experts have raised the possibility of a staged operation, either on Hungarian or Serbian territory, intended to arouse enough sympathy for Orban to help his Fidesz party win the election - or to give Orban an excuse to declare an emergency and postpone or cancel the vote.

Serbian President Alexander Vucic, a close ally of Orban, informed the Hungarian leader of the discovery on Sunday morning.

Two rucksacks full of explosives and detonators were found by the Serbian army near the village of Tresnjevac in the Kanjiza district, about 20km (12 miles) from the point where the TurkStream pipeline crosses into Hungary.

"Our units found an explosive of devastating power," Vucic said in a post on Instagram. "I told PM Orban that we would keep him updated on the investigation."

Hungary receives between five and eight billion cubic metres of Russian gas a year through the TurkStream pipeline, which both Hungary and Slovakia depend on for Russian gas.

Balint Pasztor, president of the Vojvodina Hungarian Association, and another key Orban ally, posted on Facebook: "If the investigation proves that we were not the primary target after all, but rather Hungary's supply lines, then this makes it even clearer: the terrorist attack was planned with the aim of bringing down Viktor Orban."

Fidesz has made hostility to Ukraine a cornerstone of its election campaign.

At election rallies Orban has told supporters that low heating and fuel prices in Hungary are only possible thanks to cheap Russian oil and gas, both of which arrive in Hungary by pipeline - oil through Ukraine, and gas through the Balkans.

Orban alleges that a "Kyiv-Brussels-Berlin" axis is conspiring to stop Hungary getting cheap Russian fuel, to impose their "puppet" prime minister Magyar in the upcoming election. A Tisza government, Orban says, would also drag Hungary into a European war against Russia.

Orban has already accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of imposing "an oil blockade" on Hungary, because no Russian oil has arrived through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory, since the end of January.

Ukraine says the pipeline was damaged in a Russian attack, and should be functional again in-mid April.

There have been no official allegations of Ukrainian involvement in the pipeline incident so far. But one well-informed Serbian source told the BBC this could happen as early as Monday, when Serbian authorities are expected to release the first results of their investigation.

On 2 April, Hungarian security expert Andras Racz warned on Facebook that a "fake attack" on the TurkStream pipeline could be staged inside Serbia.

Racz also predicted that the explosives would be identified as Ukrainian, allowing Orban to once again point the finger of blame at Kyiv.

"We had some solid preliminary information about this operation, including details about the place and possible timing," former senior Hungarian counter-intelligence officer, Peter Buda, told the BBC.

"It's clear that Ukraine's interests aren't at stake here. An operation like this would help Orban before the election by influencing public opinion in his favour.''

The Hungarian government insists the threat is real. "In the past few days and weeks, we've seen it all," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.

"The Ukrainians organised an oil blockade against us. Then they tried to impose a total energy blockade on us by firing dozens of drones at the TurkStream pipeline while it was still on Russian territory.

"And now we have today's incident, in which Serbian colleagues found explosives capable of blowing up the pipeline."

Opposition leader Peter Magyar accused Orban, in cahoots with the Serbian president, of staging the latest incident.

"He will not be able to prevent next Sunday's election. He will not be able to prevent millions of Hungarians from ending the most corrupt two decades in our country's history."

A search is underway for a missing crew member after a US F-15E fighter jet flying over southern Iran was shot down on Friday, US media has reported.

A pilot who was on board was reportedly rescued by US forces, but the search for the second crew member, a weapons system officer, is ongoing, reports say.

Seperately, a US A-10 Warthog aircraft that was part of the search and rescue mission for the downed jet was also shot and damaged, however its pilot was safely rescued, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Iranian officials said the the warplane was shot down by its air defence system, according to state media. The US Central Command is yet to comment.

Where and when was the jet shot down?

Iranian state media first claimed on Friday that the country's forces shot down a US jet over its southern region.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt then said that US President Donald Trump had been briefed on the incident.

US Central Command has not confirmed the details surrounding the reported downing of the aircraft.

A search and rescue mission successfully recovered the pilot of the jet, but what happened to the jet's second crew member, a weapons systems officer, remains unknown, CBS News has reported.

The rescue operation included an A-10 Warthog plane that was hit over the Gulf, with its pilot ejecting before being rescued, according to CBS.

One helicopter carrying the rescued pilot from the F-15E jet was hit by small arms fire, injuring crew members on board - but it landed safely, CBS reports.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that nomadic tribes living in the country's mountains shot two Black Hawk helicopters that were part of the US rescue mission.

The BBC has requested comment from the US military regarding Iran's claim.

BBC Verify has confirmed a video from Friday showing what appears to be three armed individuals firing towards at least two Black Hawk helicopters.

Iran's top joint military command has credited new Iranian air defence systems with the downing of both US warplanes, according to Iran's state-affiliated IRNA news agency.

What do we know about the jet's purpose?

The F-15E is a dual-role fighter jet designed for both air-to-ground and air-to-air missions. In Iran, they are most likely to have been involved in Defensive Counter Air roles to shoot down Iranian drones and cruise missiles.

In its air-to-ground strike role, the jet is a weapons platform capable of dropping laser and GPS guided precision munitions, as well as other bombs.

The aircraft has two crew: the pilot in the front who flies the jet and a weapons systems officer in the back seat. The weapons officer, known as a "Wizzo", has four screens in front of them and is responsible for selecting targets and making sure the weapons are properly programmed for the appropriate attack.

This two-crew system allows the workload to be divided up, particularly in a congested air environment where the pilot is trying to evade threats.

We do not know what specifically brought down this US jet, but if it was taken down by the Iranians then the most likely reason is a surface-to-air missile (SAM).

What is happening with the rescue effort?

The rescue of crew members of a downed jet is one of the most complex and time-sensitive operations - known as combat search and rescue (CSAR) missions - that the US military and its allies prepare for.

The elite air force units behind CSAR missions include some of the most highly trained and specialised members of the military.

"It's the most dangerous military mission that I know of," James Jeffrey, a military strategist and top US diplomat for the Middle East, told the BBC.

"These are Air Force special operations people who are trained almost to the level of Delta Force and Navy SEAL Team Six, but they also have medical capabilities," Jeffrey said. "They will not give up until they can find a pilot if they think there's any chance."

CSAR missions are often conducted by helicopters, which fly low over enemy territory, alongside other military aircraft that conduct strikes and patrol the area.

A former commander of a pararescue jumpers squadron told CBS News that a rescue operation like the reported one in Iran would involve at least 24 pararescue jumpers scouring the area in Black Hawk helicopters.

They added the team would be prepared to jump from planes if needed, and once on the ground their priority would be to contact the missing crew member.

The crew of the downed jet are also highly trained for such situations.

"Their number one priority is to stay alive and to avoid capture," Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and the director of military analysis at think tank Defense Priorities, told the BBC.

"And so they're trained to - assuming that they're physically capable, and not so injured that they can't move - to try to get away from the ejection site as quickly as possible, and to conceal themselves so that they are safe."

They're also trained on survival techniques so that they can go without food or water, or find resources from the local terrain, for as long as possible, Kavanagh said.

Iran is offering rewards of about £50,000 ($66,100) to citizens who help capture the missing airman, state media has reported.

Nasa is releasing a steady stream of stunning pictures of the Moon and Earth taken by the astronauts on its Artemis II Moon mission.

Attracting millions of likes on social media, the images show the two bodies from unusual angles in glorious high definition.

There is no denying the drama: four astronauts are embarking on a mission that will take them further from Earth than any human has ventured since 1972.

But is there unique scientific value in these images, or are these simply the equivalent of holiday photos?

Nasa wants the American public behind them to support the mission. They are live-streaming the 10-day journey, and the four astronauts are doing regular video updates, describing their progress in triumphant tones.

The crew have been so excited to watch the world and Moon go by, Nasa has said, that the window inside the Orion spacecraft got dirty and the astronauts were sent instructions on how to clean it.

This is the first time that digital cameras have been taken this far into space.

Orion has 32 cameras and devices - 15 mounted onto the spacecraft and 17 handheld by the crew.

According to Nasa, the astronauts are using standard 10-year-old cameras, including the Nikon D5, as well as GoPros and smartphones.

Nasa's photostream on flickr even tells you the device used to take each of the published photos.

On Friday we saw the first results of their intense observations.

"Hello, World" was taken by Commander Reid Wiseman when the mission was about equidistant from the Moon and Earth - 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth, and 132,000 miles from the Moon.

It shows two auroras as the Earth eclipses the Sun, and the planet Venus glowing at the bottom of the image.

Our planet appears upside down, with the Sahara desert and the Iberian peninsula visible to the left and the eastern portion of South America to the right.

It's a lovely picture, but nothing new when it comes to science.

In fact, Nasa has a satellite with its Deep Space Climate Observatory with a camera called Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (Epic). Launched in 2015, it frequently takes pictures of Earth from close to a million miles away - much further than Artemis II.

Then on Saturday, Nasa released another photo, with the tagline "history in the making".

It shows the Orientale basin, a huge crater on the far side of the Moon, which has a thicker crust and many more impact craters.

It's been released ahead of the lunar fly-by on Monday when the crew will fly around this mysterious far side, passing within 4,066 miles of the surface.

Nasa said its image marked "the first time the entire basin has been seen with human eyes". Even Apollo astronauts didn't see the Orientale basin completely because of their orbit and illumination conditions.

Nasa is emphasising the significance of human eyes rather than robotic explorers.

"Human eyes and brains are highly sensitive to subtle changes in colour, texture, and other surface characteristics," it says.

It says this could "uncover new discoveries and a more nuanced appreciation for the features on the surface of the Moon."

I asked Chris Lintott, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and co-host of BBC's series The Sky at Night for his opinion.

"The value of the images coming back from Artemis and its crew is artistic, not scientific," he said.

He explained that since the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s, robotic explorers have mapped the far side of the Moon.

In 2023, India sent the probe Chandrayaan-3 and captured detailed images of the same terrain.

And in 2024, China's Chang'e-6 mission collected the first-ever samples from the far side. It followed China landing the first ever probe in the region, in 2019.

"Unless something very unusual happens, there will be nothing for the [Artemis] astronauts to discover," Lintott says.

"There's a possibility they might see an impact flash if a meteor hits the dark side but it would have to be a pretty big one," he said.

"For science they would need to do a systematic count [of it], best done with a video camera, not looking out the window," he explained.

"The [images] we already have back are beautiful, stunning and iconic - taking by astronauts not by robots. This is a voyage of exploration, not lunar science and that's fine!" he said.

When releasing these images, Nasa is pushing the scientific importance of this mission, but as journalists, we are asked to look at all the facts around a story.

America is locked in a space race with other nations - notably China, with both nations vying to be the first to return humans to the Moon. A successful Artemis II mission would signal that the US has taken a decisive lead, for now

And this is a huge moment for Nasa to shine in the eyes of President Donald Trump, who has gutted the funding of many scientific institutions.

The agency is also under pressure to prove its worth at a time when private operators such as SpaceX are raising the bar.

Science is driven by inquiry and evidence, but it is never immune to politics.

In 1968 astronaut Bill Anders made history when he took the now-famous picture Earthrise.

Taken from close to the lunar surface, it showed our planet rising in the distance.

It made Earth look vulnerable, and at a time of global division and tension during the Cold War, it reminded many viewers that we share this one planet.

It also demonstrated how a powerful image can write history, and Nasa will be hoping that Artemis II delivers a moment of comparable resonance.

In the meantime, let's enjoy the astronauts' ride and their beautiful pictures.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said it is "deeply concerning" that Kanye West is set to headline Wireless Festival in London this summer.

West, now known as Ye, has drawn widespread criticism for antisemitic comments he has made in recent years, for which he issued an apology in January.

The American rapper, 48, was announced as the headliner for all three days of the rap and R&B festival in north London earlier this week.

In response Sir Keir said, in comments first reported by the Sun on Sunday, that West has been booked "despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism".

"Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears," Sir Keir said.

"Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe."

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said on Thursday that the government should ban West from entering the UK, arguing "we need to get tougher on antisemitism" and describing West's planned appearance as "extremely serious".

• Kanye West to return to UK for Wireless Festival

Last year West was blocked from entering Australia after releasing a song titled "Heil Hitler", glorifying the Nazi leader.

He also declared himself a Nazi earlier in the year, retracting an earlier apology he issued over antisemitic comments, and sold T-shirts featuring a swastika on his clothing website.

In November 2025, West held a meeting with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto where he reportedly apologised for his past antisemitic comments.

In January, West took out a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, apologising for his antisemitic behaviour.

"I am not a Nazi or an antisemite," he wrote. He said bipolar disorder means when "you're manic, you don't think you're sick" and that he "lost touch with reality".

"I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state," he added.

West's X account was banned multiple times in 2022 due to posts that violated the platform's rules.

It came after he posted a series of offensive tweets, including an image appearing to show a symbol combining a swastika and the Star of David and saying he would go "death con 3 On Jewish people".

In the same year, he drew criticism after wearing a "white lives matter" T-shirt during Paris fashion week.

His actions saw clothing brand Adidas part ways with the rapper, which said at the time it does "not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech".

He has not performed in the UK since 2015 when he headlined Glastonbury.

Three songs from his latest album Bully, released in March, are in the UK's top 100 singles chart.

Wireless has described the event, running from 10-12 July, as a "three night journey through his most iconic records".

Earlier this week, the leader of the largest body representing Jews in the UK, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told BBC Newsnight that West should be blocked from entering the country.

A spokesperson for London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said: "We are clear that the past comments and actions of this artist are offensive and wrong, and are simply not reflective of London's values. This was a decision taken by the festival organisers and not one that City Hall is involved in."

Wireless organisers Festival Republic have been approached for comment.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has convened an emergency meeting of the National Defence Council after explosives were found near a pipeline that transports Russian gas to Hungary.

The discovery in a border area of neighbouring Serbia comes as Orban's party is badly trailing in opinion polls ahead of crucial elections next Sunday.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar accused him of "panic-mongering" orchestrated by "Russian advisers", days after security experts warned of a possible "false flag" operation that could be blamed on Ukraine.

Orban, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has resisted EU calls to abandon Russian energy imports since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In recent weeks Hungarian security experts have raised the possibility of a staged operation, either on Hungarian or Serbian territory, intended to arouse enough sympathy for Orban to help his Fidesz party win the election - or to give Orban an excuse to declare an emergency and postpone or cancel the vote.

Serbian President Alexander Vucic, a close ally of Orban, informed the Hungarian leader of the discovery on Sunday morning.

Two rucksacks full of explosives and detonators were found by the Serbian army near the village of Tresnjevac in the Kanjiza district, about 20km (12 miles) from the point where the TurkStream pipeline crosses into Hungary.

"Our units found an explosive of devastating power," Vucic said in a post on Instagram. "I told PM Orban that we would keep him updated on the investigation."

Hungary receives between five and eight billion cubic metres of Russian gas a year through the TurkStream pipeline, which both Hungary and Slovakia depend on for Russian gas.

Balint Pasztor, president of the Vojvodina Hungarian Association, and another key Orban ally, posted on Facebook: "If the investigation proves that we were not the primary target after all, but rather Hungary's supply lines, then this makes it even clearer: the terrorist attack was planned with the aim of bringing down Viktor Orban."

Fidesz has made hostility to Ukraine a cornerstone of its election campaign.

At election rallies Orban has told supporters that low heating and fuel prices in Hungary are only possible thanks to cheap Russian oil and gas, both of which arrive in Hungary by pipeline - oil through Ukraine, and gas through the Balkans.

Orban alleges that a "Kyiv-Brussels-Berlin" axis is conspiring to stop Hungary getting cheap Russian fuel, to impose their "puppet" prime minister Magyar in the upcoming election. A Tisza government, Orban says, would also drag Hungary into a European war against Russia.

Orban has already accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of imposing "an oil blockade" on Hungary, because no Russian oil has arrived through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory, since the end of January.

Ukraine says the pipeline was damaged in a Russian attack, and should be functional again in-mid April.

There have been no official allegations of Ukrainian involvement in the pipeline incident so far. But one well-informed Serbian source told the BBC this could happen as early as Monday, when Serbian authorities are expected to release the first results of their investigation.

On 2 April, Hungarian security expert Andras Racz warned on Facebook that a "fake attack" on the TurkStream pipeline could be staged inside Serbia.

Racz also predicted that the explosives would be identified as Ukrainian, allowing Orban to once again point the finger of blame at Kyiv.

"We had some solid preliminary information about this operation, including details about the place and possible timing," former senior Hungarian counter-intelligence officer, Peter Buda, told the BBC.

"It's clear that Ukraine's interests aren't at stake here. An operation like this would help Orban before the election by influencing public opinion in his favour.''

The Hungarian government insists the threat is real. "In the past few days and weeks, we've seen it all," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.

"The Ukrainians organised an oil blockade against us. Then they tried to impose a total energy blockade on us by firing dozens of drones at the TurkStream pipeline while it was still on Russian territory.

"And now we have today's incident, in which Serbian colleagues found explosives capable of blowing up the pipeline."

Opposition leader Peter Magyar accused Orban, in cahoots with the Serbian president, of staging the latest incident.

"He will not be able to prevent next Sunday's election. He will not be able to prevent millions of Hungarians from ending the most corrupt two decades in our country's history."