U.S. special forces rescued the second crew member of the F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• The crew member, a weapons systems officer, was wounded after ejecting from the aircraft on Friday but could still walk, and evaded capture in the mountains for more than a day, one of the officials said.
• President Trump posted at 12:08 a.m. ET: "WE GOT HIM!"

🛰️ The big picture: The shootdown was a nightmare scenario for the U.S. military, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also racing to locate the missing U.S. officer in southwest Iran. Both crew members were rescued in special forces operations inside Iran.

• One official said yesterday's operation was conducted by a specialized commando unit with a high volume of air cover, with U.S. forces unleashing a hail of heavy fire. The official said all of the forces are now out of Iran.

How it happened: According to two sources, the F-15 pilot and weapons systems officer both made contact after ejecting on Friday.

• The pilot was rescued several hours after the plane was shot down. During the operation, Iran struck a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter, wounding crew members. But it was able to fly on.
• It took more than a day to locate and rescue the weapons systems officer.

🔎 Behind the scenes: A senior administration official told Axios that before locating the weapons systems officer, the CIA launched a deception campaign by spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found him and were attempting a ground exfiltration.

• The CIA used "unique capabilities" to search for him. "This was the ultimate needle in a haystack," the official said. "It was a brave American soul inside a mountain crevice, invisible but for CIA's capabilities."
• The CIA shared the airman's precise location with the Pentagon, the U.S. military and the White House. Trump ordered an immediate rescue mission.

🔭 Zoom in: The IRGC had also sent forces to the region to try to prevent a rescue, according to two U.S. officials.

• U.S. Air Force jets conducted strikes against Iranian forces to prevent them from reaching the area, the sources said.
• Trump and senior members of his team followed the rescue operation from the White House Situation Room. Then Trump was in the Oval Office throughout the day yesterday, receiving constant updates from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a White House official told us.

Zoom out: In addition to the F-15 and Black Hawk, Iran also downed an A-10 attack aircraft on Friday, undercutting claims from Trump, Hegseth and other officials that the U.S. had unchecked dominance of the skies over Iran. That pilot was able to fly to friendly territory and eject safely.

• Trump wrote that both crew members were rescued without any Americans being killed, showing the U.S. has "achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies."

Reality check: Diplomatic efforts have shown very little progress in recent days, two sources familiar with the indirect talks say.

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🪖 The latest: In a post on Easter morn, POTUS says ...

Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F*ckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP

Trump threatened yesterday that "hell will reign [sic] down" on Iran if the regime doesn't agree to open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. He previously threatened to strike civilian infrastructure, such as power plants.

• Barak's latest.

The most consequential force reshaping geopolitics and business can be captured in one word: asymmetry, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes in his new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.

• The small can now destroy the big. The cheap can neutralize the expensive.
• Drones proved it on the battlefield. AI is proving it everywhere else.

Why it matters: Every CEO now faces the same question the Pentagon does: Are you the $3 million missile or the $35,000 drone?

💡 Lessons from war: Iran and Ukraine, both outgunned on paper, turned cheap drones into strategic equalizers. They mass-produce weapons at $20K–$50K a pop and unleash them with missile-like precision. Both Russia and America are now racing to build their own.

• We've shot down drones that cost less than a used car with $3 million missiles that take years to build. That's structurally unsustainable.

Lessons for corporate America: AI is the drone. A sprawling org chart is the Patriot missile.

• All businesses face a looming rethink: What are the smallest teams, fewest steps and quickest paths to do everything at every layer?
• 15 people can now do what 150 did. The most dangerous unit in business is no longer the biggest division — it's the small team with proven AI leverage.
• The old playbook: Throw headcount at the problem. The new playbook? Give a tight team the right tools and get out of the way.

Look around. The companies winning right now aren't the biggest. They're the leanest and fastest. A can't-ignore example:

• Coefficient Bio: An 8-month-old, 9-person biotech AI startup that just got acquired by Anthropic for roughly $400M. This happened so fast because what they built is how you think through drug development, not a drug itself.

The bottom line: This shift is great news for any individual with a big idea.

• One person orchestrating a team of AI agents can now do company-sized work. Just about anything is possible.

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• 📈 If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Ask to join the beta of Jim's brand-new, weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.

Data centers have become a boxy, hulking flashpoint heading into the midterms — and the backlash is spreading fast across red and blue states, Axios' Ashley Gold and Natalie Daher write.

Why it matters: With no federal action, states are fielding constituent anger over power grids, water supplies and strained local infrastructure.

• But investment keeps accelerating, and Washington's appetite for AI dominance isn't slowing down.
• At least 11 states proposed legislation to restrict or ban data center development since late 2025.

⛔️ Maine is on track to be the first to halt construction outright. A bill pausing development until Nov. 2027 is expected to clear the state Senate and be signed by Gov. Janet Mills (D), who's running for Senate.

• "Maine is the canary in the coal mine," Anirban Basu, chief economist for trade group Associated Builders and Contractors, told The Wall Street Journal.

The big picture: Politicians are positioning themselves carefully on data centers ahead of midterms. Their stances are often a direct response to local voter angst.

• Outright moratoriums and bans can be viewed as anti-growth, putting politicians at risk of being targeted by pro-AI super PACs or placing them at odds with business leaders.

The bottom line: This isn't a red- or blue-state problem. It's a tangible manifestation of how AI is changing and dividing the country.

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Success for musicians is being driven by marketing power and superfandom in a more democratized industry, Kerry Flynn and Christine Wang write in an Axios Media Trends Executive briefing.

• Why it matters: Instead of relying on revenue from sales or streams, artists increasingly depend on building dedicated audiences that follow them across platforms, buy their merch and attend their shows.

The big picture: Barriers to entry in music have disappeared, making it easier than ever to release songs but increasingly difficult to stand out.

• About 88% of streaming tracks are played 1,000 times or fewer, per Luminate, and therefore do not generate royalties on platforms like Spotify.

"You're competing against an insane flood of limitless access to music. I think what artists do is try to really creatively, visually storytell," said Vevo's JP Evangelista.

• UCLA professor Timothy Taylor said: "It takes not just talent and hard work. It takes a lot of time on social media, constantly promoting yourself and keeping your fans up to date."

📱 Between the lines: While TikTok is the music discovery platform du jour, the disruptions it's catalyzing are familiar, said Paula Clare Harper, musicologist and assistant professor at the University of Chicago.

• "TikTok very quickly wound up integrating with or replicating extant features of the music industry: catalogs of library/production music, licensing agreements with major labels, its own distribution product, etc.," Harper added.

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Phone-free bars and restaurants are emerging across the U.S. as people seek to disconnect from screens and devices, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes.

• At least 11 states now have individual restaurants or bars with some form of phone restriction or a digital-detox incentive.

🤫 Mike Salzarulo, co-owner of the Charlotte cocktail bar Antagonist, told Axios Charlotte's Laura Barrero that the business's policy of locking customers' phones away for two hours was to "build a place that kind of forces you to connect."

• Charlotte influencer Andrea "Dre" Fox told us: "No pings to ignore, no photos to snap, just pure focus on my husband and our intense game of Scrabble. Oddly enough? I walked away feeling more connected [to him] than ever."

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AI enthusiasts scrambled to change setups over the weekend after Anthropic said Claude subscribers can no longer use their subscriptions to power third-party tools like OpenClaw, Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried writes.

• Why it matters: The move underscores a growing tension at the heart of the AI boom. Power users want autonomous agents that run constantly, while AI labs want to control costs, capacity and how their models are used.

Anthropic's Boris Cherny announced the move on X late Friday: "Starting tomorrow at 12pm PT, Claude subscriptions will no longer cover usage on third-party tools like OpenClaw."

• Users can still access Claude through paid add-ons or API keys. But the shift ends a popular, cheaper option for running persistent agents.

Behind the scenes: OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger said he and colleague Dave Morin tried to persuade Anthropic to reconsider.

🔮 What's next: Expect more friction like this.

• Agentic systems, which can run for hours and take actions across apps, are far more resource-intensive than chatbots, putting pressure on AI providers' pricing models and infrastructure.

The bottom line: The faster agents get more capable, the more the business model (rather than the tech) will be a bottleneck.

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A squishy upgrade has come to Easter baskets this year, after parents hunted for toys like NeeDoh and other glittery "dumplings" — squeezable sensory toys that have gone mainstream.

• Why it matters: The surge shows how viral, low-cost toys can quickly turn into must-have items, driving sellouts and resale markups, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes.

💥 Third-party sellers on Amazon, eBay and Walmart are listing squishy toys as much as 10x retail.

• Shoppers are lining up, even camping out, when stores get inventory.

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Scott Jennings, in town for a CNN hit this morning (in Easter-pink jacket), took a walk around sunset and texted: "What a sky and evening in DC!"

Fred Ryan, a faithful reader for 19 years, is on a family trip to Easter Island, Chile. He shares these iPhone images from the field in front of the iconic Moai statues.