Long reads shortened
The remains of the US aircraft destroyed at the end of the rescue mission. Iranian state television
The astonishing multimillion-dollar rescue mission in Iran
When an American F-15E fighter jet – call-sign Dude 44 – was hit over Iran last Friday, says The New York Times, the two crew members ejected and floated down to the ground with their parachutes. But while the pilot was quickly located and rescued, the weapons-systems officer, who was injured, couldn’t be found. Surveillance planes and drones combing the nearby area saw no signs of life. On the ground, the downed airman’s evasion and survival training had kicked in. He hiked up a 7,000ft ridgeline, wedged himself into a crevice and briefly activated an emergency beacon. Then he waited.
Once the signal had been detected, the CIA sought to keep the Iranians guessing by spreading word inside Iran that the airman had been found and was being evacuated by road. Four B-1 bombers dropped nearly 100 satellite-guided bombs to keep the enemy search parties at bay, while Reaper drones took out suspected fighters. On Saturday night, once the airman’s identity had been confirmed – there were fears it was an Iranian trap – a team of around 100 Special Operations forces were flown in. Firing their weapons “ferociously” to keep any would-be attackers at bay, they found their man and flew him by helicopter to a “sandy, austere” airstrip that special ops soldiers had prepared previously for rescues like this. In a final twist, they couldn’t free some of the evacuation aircraft from the sand, so had to call in replacements and blow up the disabled planes ($100m a pop) to prevent the Iranians getting them. At sunrise on Sunday, three planes took off. The rescue of the first US airmen downed in enemy territory for 20 years was complete.
🫀🤯 To pinpoint the missing aviator, says Steven Nelson in the New York Post, the CIA used a highly classified new tool called “Ghost Murmur”, which uses “quantum magnetometry” to detect heartbeats from several miles away. “In the right conditions, if your heart is beating,” says a source, “we will find you.”
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Property
THE FARMHOUSE This Grade II-listed six-bedroom farmhouse in the Hertfordshire village of Wareside dates back to the late 15th century, says The Guardian. A tree-lined drive leads to the white gabled house, where the ground floor has a reception room with a red-brick fireplace, a formal dining room and a kitchen that opens through to an orangery. The principal bedroom has a vaulted ceiling and a spectacular stained-glass chapel window. A detached annexe provides additional accommodation and, outside, two acres of south-facing grounds include a summerhouse, tennis court and vegetable garden. Ware station is a short drive, with trains to London Liverpool Street in 46 minutes. £2m. Click on the image to see the listing.
Heroes and villains
McIlroy inspecting the dishes for his Champions Dinner
Hero
Rory McIlroy, for refusing to sugarcoat his nation’s culinary shortcomings. Asked why his menu for the “Champions Dinner” at the Masters this week contained no dishes from his homeland, the Northern Irish golfer replied: “Because I want to enjoy the dinner.”
Villain
Donald Trump, according to the Telegraph, which reports that the war in Iran risks “deepening Britain’s pothole crisis”. Reduced supplies of bitumen have pushed the cost of asphalt up by more than 20%, leaving cash-strapped councils even less likely to fill the country’s estimated one million potholes.
Getty
Hero
Shabana Mahmood, according to Michael Gove, who told Radio 4’s Matt Forde Focus Group that a lot of his browsing history consists of “Shabana Mahmood images”. Asked whether his attraction to the home secretary was a “political crush” or a “crush crush”, the former Tory minister replied “both”, adding: “I think she’s gorgeous.” He admitted his comments might get him in trouble with his girlfriend, saying: “Maybe I’ll ask Boris for advice on this.”
Hero
Brad Reese, whose grandfather invented the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, for successfully pressuring the food conglomerate that makes the snacks to stop cutting corners with its recipes. The 70-year-old has been publicly railing against the Hershey Company for weeks after biting into a Reese’s Mini Heart and finding it “disgusting”. The firm has now announced it will return to using “classic milk and dark chocolate”.
Villain
An octopus listed in the Guinness World Records as the oldest specimen of its species, which has been stripped of its title because it’s not actually an octopus. When scientists at the University of Reading carried out deep scans of the 296-million-year-old Pohlsepia mazonensis fossil, they found a set of teeth of a type not possessed by the eight-limbed sea creatures. As The Times put it: “So long, sucker.”
What to see
Evening gowns designed by Norman Hartnell in the 1950s. Paul Bulley/Royal Collection Enterprises
Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style is packed with more than 300 “spectacular” items from the late monarch’s wardrobe, says Hamish Bowles in Vogue. The largest exhibition of her clothing ever staged, it showcases satin ballgowns and sheath dresses “coruscating with sequins” from the 1950s; swirling, technicolour dresses from the 1960s and 1970s; and her Norman Hartnell-designed wedding dress, a “Botticelli-inspired gown of starry roses picked out in pearls on a rich satin ground”. There’s plenty of jewellery too – such as the sapphire and diamond Cartier bracelet she received from her parents on her 18th birthday – and accessories including shoes, scarves, hats, gloves and even binoculars. It all shows an unseen side of the late queen, “for whom getting dressed was an act of diplomacy, service and, sometimes, fun”. Runs until 18 October at the King’s Gallery, London.
The Knowledge Crossword
Comment
Rodríguez in Caracas with US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Federico Parra/AFP/Getty
Why Venezuela hasn’t become “Iraq 2.0”
When US troops seized Nicolás Maduro from Caracas in the dead of the night, says Missy Ryan in The Atlantic, Donald Trump’s critics warned that Venezuela could be “Iraq 2.0”. Three months later, life in the South American petrostate has returned to normal, or whatever constitutes normal in a nation that has been “gripped by turmoil and economic calamity” for years. Caraqueños say the streets of the capital are quiet. The police have stopped their practice of widespread arbitrary arrests. Oil revenue is increasing. A recent poll shows that 80% of Venezuelans think their country is the same or better off than under Maduro, and 54% say greater US influence is positive. “Trump could only wish for such favourable numbers at home.”
What many misjudged back in January was the pliancy of Maduro’s lieutenants and their willingness to work with a Yankee government previously cast as an “ever-present bogeyman”. Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president now running the show, is fulfilling Washington’s demands to loosen nationalist policies and pass reforms to encourage foreign investment. US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has recounted a meeting about forthcoming legislation where Rodríguez told American mining executives: “Tell us what you want in the bill. We’re introducing it on Saturday.” None of this is perfect: Venezuelans are still being ruled by unelected leaders, just different ones “cut from the same authoritarian cloth”; US officials have warned the opposition leader María Corina Machado against returning to the country. But as Trump struggles with one regime-change operation in Iran, it’s worth acknowledging that the other, for now, “seems to be working out”.
Weather
Quoted
“I’m as pure as snow, but I drifted.”
Mae West
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