President Donald Trump said the administration would seek to identify the person who leaked that a second U.S. airman remained missing in Iran during the rescue mission and would tell the media outlet that published the information to reveal the source on national security grounds.
Speaking April 6 at a White House press conference about the recovery of two U.S. airmen after an F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran on Friday, Trump detailed the daring rescue mission inside Iran. The pilot was recovered within hours, but the weapon systems officer had been separated by several miles after ejecting and remained alone in hostile territory until Saturday night.
Trump announced the successful recovery shortly after midnight Easter Sunday.
At Monday’s press conference, Trump said officials had deliberately withheld information about the second airman after the first crew member was recovered, but that a leak revealed another American remained alive in Iran. Trump later called the leaker a “sick person.”
“As you probably know, we didn’t talk about the first one for an hour. Then somebody leaked something, which we will hopefully find that leaker,” Trump stated.
“They basically said that we have one and there’s somebody missing. Well, they didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information.”
“We’re looking very hard to find that leaker,” Trump continued. “We’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘national security, give it up or go to jail.’ When they did that, all of a sudden, the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life.”
“It also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him,” Trump explained. “All of a sudden, they know that there’s somebody out there. They see all these planes coming in. It became a much more difficult operation because a leaker leaked that we have one. We’ve rescued one, but there’s another one out there that we’re trying to get.”
Trump also noted Iran issued what he described as a major notice offering “a very big award for anybody that captures the pilot.”
“So in addition to a hostile, very talented, very good, very evil military, we had millions of people trying to get an award,” Trump remarked.
Officials characterized the effort to recover the second airman as one of the most complex rescue missions in U.S. special operations history, involving roughly 200 personnel, including elements of SEAL Team 6, backed by MQ-9 Reaper drones, helicopters, surveillance aircraft, and strike aircraft operating over Iran. The missing officer limited use of his emergency beacon and radio to avoid detection, forcing U.S. intelligence agencies to verify intermittent signals and determine whether they were genuine or part of a potential Iranian trap after he transmitted the message, “God is good,” which officials later determined matched his religious background.
The CIA also mounted a deception effort suggesting the airman had already been recovered, while U.S. aircraft struck around the extraction zone before special operations helicopters launched Saturday night from an improvised forward arming and refueling point inside Iran, secured the officer, and returned him to the temporary airstrip. Two MC-130J aircraft later became stuck in sandy terrain during departure, forcing U.S. forces to transfer personnel to replacement aircraft and destroy the disabled planes and additional equipment left behind, including light helicopters, before departing. All U.S. personnel were evacuated without fatalities, and Trump hailed the recovery as an “Easter miracle.”
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