In a Monday press conference, President Donald Trump and top U.S. military officials revealed new details on the high-risk rescue mission involving two U.S. airmen stranded deep within enemy territory in Iran.Satellite images showed the impacted terrain after the F-15 fighter jet crashed in southern Iran last week, forcing both troops to eject and evade capture from Iranian forces. Trump called the rescue mission a success under his command.”When you’re fighting a strong group, an evil group, you can’t really do this because you send in 200 men to pick up one,” Trump said. “It’s something that’s usually not attempted as much as you want to attempt. And bad things happen to that one or two. In this case, we did two.”U.S. military officials said the pilot was found first, leaving the second — a colonel and weapons systems officer — still missing. Trump said the operation quickly expanded to include aircraft and weapons to distract and return fire against Iranian forces.”The second rescue mission included 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, and more,” Trump said.U.S. officials said the second airman, who was injured after the crash, climbed mountain terrain, hid in a cave, and activated his emergency transponder, reportedly relaying in his first message, “God is good.”U.S. intelligence officials also reportedly launched a subterfuge mission to confuse enemy forces searching for the lost airman. “Our intelligence shows that Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said. “No matter what. We will leave no one behind.” Other U.S. aircraft reportedly braved heavy enemy fire before attempting and making the daring rescue. “(He was) hidden in a cave, a crevice all of Saturday, rescued on Sunday, and flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “A pilot reborn. All at home and accounted for. A nation rejoicing. God is good.”Trump revealed that the F-15 fighter jet originally went down after being hit by a shoulder-held missile launcher. Earlier on Monday, Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and called for a permanent end to the war. But, Trump stood firm on his deadline, giving Iran until Tuesday, 8 p.m. Eastern to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. If it remains closed, the president has threatened to bomb Iran’s bridges and power plants and refused to say whether any civilian targets would be off-limits. He warned that the entire country could be “taken out in one night.”Watch the latest coverage on the ongoing war in Iran:
In a Monday press conference, President Donald Trump and top U.S. military officials revealed new details on the high-risk rescue mission involving two U.S. airmen stranded deep within enemy territory in Iran.
Satellite images showed the impacted terrain after the F-15 fighter jet crashed in southern Iran last week, forcing both troops to eject and evade capture from Iranian forces.
Trump called the rescue mission a success under his command.
“When you’re fighting a strong group, an evil group, you can’t really do this because you send in 200 men to pick up one,” Trump said. “It’s something that’s usually not attempted as much as you want to attempt. And bad things happen to that one or two. In this case, we did two.”
U.S. military officials said the pilot was found first, leaving the second — a colonel and weapons systems officer — still missing.
Trump said the operation quickly expanded to include aircraft and weapons to distract and return fire against Iranian forces.
“The second rescue mission included 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, and more,” Trump said.
U.S. officials said the second airman, who was injured after the crash, climbed mountain terrain, hid in a cave, and activated his emergency transponder, reportedly relaying in his first message, “God is good.”
U.S. intelligence officials also reportedly launched a subterfuge mission to confuse enemy forces searching for the lost airman.
“Our intelligence shows that Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said. “No matter what. We will leave no one behind.”
Other U.S. aircraft reportedly braved heavy enemy fire before attempting and making the daring rescue.
“(He was) hidden in a cave, a crevice all of Saturday, rescued on Sunday, and flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “A pilot reborn. All at home and accounted for. A nation rejoicing. God is good.”
Trump revealed that the F-15 fighter jet originally went down after being hit by a shoulder-held missile launcher.
Earlier on Monday, Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and called for a permanent end to the war. But, Trump stood firm on his deadline, giving Iran until Tuesday, 8 p.m. Eastern to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
If it remains closed, the president has threatened to bomb Iran’s bridges and power plants and refused to say whether any civilian targets would be off-limits. He warned that the entire country could be “taken out in one night.”
Watch the latest coverage on the ongoing war in Iran:
