From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily.

Over the weekend, the United States military pulled off a stunning rescue behind enemy lines in Iran.

The mission to save an injured airman was as complicated as it was daring.

Today, my colleague, Eric Schmidt, explains how the U.S. pulled it off and why this victory may be short-lived.

It's Tuesday, April 7th.

Eric Schmidt, welcome back to the Daily.

Thank you.

So over the weekend, the administration pulls off this operation that seems like it could have been ripped from a Hollywood movie, right?

And we're going to get to the details of it. But before we do, Eric, just set the stage for us and tell us what was happening in the war in the days leading up to this rescue mission.

Sure. So by Friday, it was the end of the fifth week of the air campaign that Israel, the United States was waging against Iran.

In retaliation, Iran had closed the strait of Hermose.

That sent gasoline prices here in the U.S. skyrocketing and economic reverberations across the globe.

And in the polls, the war was also unpopular.

But the administration was trying to sell the point that they were winning.

This was a successful military campaign.

And that the United States had actually achieved air dominance over Iran.

Meaning that they controlled the airspace over Iran.

That's what our military was saying.

That's right.

And then early Friday, we got the news that an American war plane had actually been shot down over Iran. That's what our military was saying. That's right. And then early Friday, we got the news

that an American war plane had actually been shot down over Iran, the first time that had happened

in the war. And so this was a real jolt that, wait a minute, you know, we've been hearing from

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