Trump on Rescue Mission in Iran: ‘In the United States Military, We Leave No American Behind”
The military rescued an Air Force pilot on Sunday after he was shot down in Iran.
President Donald Trump held a press conference a day after the military rescued an Air Force pilot in Iran and issued a warning that Iran has until Tuesday to open the Strait of Hormuz.
“As Commander-in-Chief, I never forget the extraordinary risk taken by the warriors that we send into battle — and the genius,” said Trump.
.@POTUS holds a press conference on the historic rescue of two American airmen from Iran:
"I ordered the U.S. armed forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home… In the United States military, we leave no American behind." pic.twitter.com/Cwz7kWhz2I
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 6, 2026
Trump described the rescue mission of the Weapons Systems Operator:
“He was injured quite badly and stranded in an area teeming with terrorists from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — rough group — as well as besieged military militia and local authorities. Many — on top of everything else — They told the communities actually with inside of Iran, the people of Iran, they were given a tremendous incentive to find this pilot. Despite the peril, the officer followed his training and climbed into the treacherous mountain terrain and started climbing toward a higher altitude, something they were trained to do in order to evade capture. They want to always go as far away from the site of the shootdown. You want to go as far away because they all head right to that site. You want to be as far away as you can. And he was injured and he was an amazing, amazing thing.”
“He scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds and contacted American forces to transmit his location. They have a very sophisticated beeper type apparatus that is on them at all times. And when they when they go out on these missions, they make sure they have lots of battery space and they’re in good shape. And this one worked really well, amazingly saved his life.”
“We immediately mobilized a massive operation to retrieve him from the mountain holdout, and he kept going higher and higher. The mountain kept getting rougher and rougher and really very, very hard to find. The second rescue mission involved 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft and more. We were bringing them all over, and a lot of it was subterfuge. We wanted to have them think he was in a different location because they had a vast military force out there. Thousands, thousands of people were looking, so we wanted them to look in different areas, so we were scattered all over like we were right on top of them they thought, and they were very confused. They said, well, wait a minute, they’ve got groups here, they’ve got groups there. It’s amazing thing.”
Trump to the Weapons Systems Operator who survived in Iran for two days before being rescued by U.S. special forces…
“He was injured quite badly and stranded in an area teeming with terrorists from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — rough group — as well as besieged… pic.twitter.com/Ktdb1MD2Dv
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 6, 2026
Trump also went off on a person who leaked the rescue mission to the media because Iran did not know the military had started looking for them.
Trump is angry: “They didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information. Whoever it was, we think we’ll be able to find out, because we’re gonna go to the media company that released it and we’re gonna say, ‘National security, Give it up or go to jail.'”
Trump: "They didn't know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information. Whoever it was, we think we'll be able to find out, because we're gonna go to the media company that released it and we're gonna say, 'National security, Give it up or go to jail.'" pic.twitter.com/QqoF8OfUqU
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) April 6, 2026
Vijeta Uniyal detailed the rescue of an Air Force pilot in Iran on Sunday.
“WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Office Members, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is SAFE and SOUND!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
It also sounds like Trump will stand firm on his threat regarding the Strait of Hormuz:
We are dealing with them. Essentially, they have until eight o’clock tomorrow night, Eastern Time, but we are dealing with them. I think it’s going well. Mr. [US special envoy to the Middle East Steve] Witkoff is here, and JD [Vance] is involved in the dealing. Mr. Witkoff is sitting right here, and I think it’s going fine, but we’ll have to see.
You have to understand, we’ve been dealing with these people for 47 years. I’m standing here with a much more powerful Iran as of a month ago. Not anymore. Right now, they are decapitated, but I’m standing here a month ago with a much more powerful Iran than it was at any point during 47 years.
This should have been handled by seven presidents, a lot of presidents, and those presidents are saying now, every one of them to their friends, we should have done this a long time ago.
So it’s not something I like doing. It’s very dangerous, and we’re getting them at the height of of their strength. If I didn’t terminate the Barack Hussein Obama Iran nuclear deal, they would have had a, don’t forget, that was a path to a nuclear weapon. Remember this, he chose Iran over Israel, pure and simple.
.@POTUS: "We are dealing with them. Essentially, they have until 8 o'clock tomorrow night, Eastern Time. But we are dealing with them… I think it's going fine, but we'll have to see. You have to understand, we've been dealing with these people for 47 years." pic.twitter.com/Nq7glhNPlw
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 6, 2026
Trump also said:
This is a critical period. They have a period of well, till tomorrow at eight o’clock. I gave them an extension. They asked for an extension of seven days, right? I said, “Steve, give them 10 days.” 10 days is up, actually today. So I gave them 11 I guess indirectly, I thought it was inappropriate. The day after Easter, I want to be a nice person.
They have till tomorrow. Now we’ll see what happens. I can tell you they’re negotiating, we think, in good faith, we’re going to find out. We’re getting the help of some incredible countries that want this to be ended because it affects them also. A lot of people are affected by this, but we’re giving them, we’re giving them till tomorrow, eight o’clock Eastern time, and after that, they’re going to have no bridges. They’re going to have no power plants.
Stone ages.
.@POTUS: "This is a critical period… We're giving them until tomorrow, 8:00 pm Eastern Time — and after that, they're going to have no bridges. They're going to have no power plants. Stone ages." pic.twitter.com/Ka2NdHScMu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 6, 2026
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Comments
He wants to find and prosecute the leaker who reported that the US was looking for a second flier. He then details how the rescue operation was conducted, from equipment and ordnance to strategic efforts to trick the enemy into looking in the wrong places, likely rendering such strategy useless in the future. While I support most of his actions, I just wish he could learn to keep his frickin mouth shut.
There was no “secret” to the success of this op. CSAR and SERE tactics and strategies are decades-old (conceived in WWII) and are well-known. The misdirection that was employed is not a “top-secret” strategy.
The key to success, here, was a resolute commitment of manpower and resources, with built-in redundancy, to counter inevitable operational obstacles (such as the transport planes’ wheels getting stuck in mud/sand).
Talking about how the operation went down is past tense. Speaking about the maggot newsperson ( but I repeat myself) , the bastard ran his mouth WHILE the operation was ongoing.
Trump needs to follow the advice of Gen. W.T. Sherman when it comes to reporters.
Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes?
“likely rendering such strategy useless in the future.”
Not sure how talking about it is going to render the strategy useless in the future. The Iranians were there experiencing it firsthand…I’m pretty sure they know exactly how we fooled them at this point.
But even knowing precisely what we did and how we did it doesn’t mean that they’d be able to stop it the next time. That’s the power of the feint. The one you write off as a feint and ignore might just be the real deal…so you can’t ignore any of them, which spreads and thins your forces and reduces your resources in the location of the actual action.
That’s not to say that I disagree with your overall sentiment. I think he brags too much (and threatens too much); his bombast and bluster is the thing I dislike the most about him – but I doubt that this particular instance compromised future operations.
“Leave no American behind” was a doctrine that the utterly vile, stupid and evil narcissist-incompetent-dunce, Obama, and his equally vile and wretched Secretary of State, crone Clinton, rejected, emphatically, during the Benghazi Muslim terrorist attack, in Libya,
The despicable Obama cared more about managing the political fallout from his Benghazi non-response/indifference, lest it damage his re-election prospects, than he did about saving American lives, including that of his own Ambassador.
We should always strive for that doctrine but let’s be honest, it hasn’t always been possible in all the wars and conflicts fought. To support my point there was and still is a whole MIA movement associated with the Vietnam War. I too had a bracelet at the time.
You can tell the measure of a country by how they view their war dead, POWs, missing, etc… The US strives to retrieve them all. So does Israel for that matter. Some countries don’t care as much or at all which correlates with their overall view of the life and well being of their citizens,
Not sure if the excuse of “it wasn’t possible” cuts it at all. Even if it wasn’t possible you still don’t give up on the people up the sharp end and that IS what happened in Benghazi.
Obama and Clinton abandoned Americans in combat because, most likely they couldn’t rouse Clinton from her drug induced coma and Barry just didn’t give a flying f88k about what was going on because it might not look good in the news 🙄
Knowing your CnC and those below him have your back goes a long way, and certainly goes a f88k load further than believing your higher ups aren’t going to be there for you when needed.
I agree, The attitude towards todays volunteers is a lot different than it was during yesterday’s draftees in many ways.
Democrats are decrying the enormous cost to rescue just one individual. “We could’ve opened 2 or 3 more Learing Centers for that amount of money.”
I’m glad MOST people know to keep OUR secrets, secret. MSM does not. AND, as exciting (?) and successful as this was, relaying anything by anyone as to how and why it worked is not such a good idea. Our military will need the real secrecy, to stay secret.
Nothing he said was a secret sweetie 😂
Sure hon. Although at one point he turned to a another person there (I think it was a general, but not sure) and asked how many troops were involved. The reply was “I’d love to keep that secret.” I think that sums up what I’m saying, although it was clearly the greatest rescue ever, and nobody’s ever seen anything like it.
Bless your heart darling 😂😂 My condolences to you at this difficult time 😂😂
You seem to fancy yourself a wit, and I believe you are half right.
didnt don lemon say the same thing ???
Amazingly depressing how few d/prog members of Congress and d/prog elders can simply say something like ‘Good job, very happy the US Military recovered our own from a hostile Nation demonstrating once again why the US Military is the preeminent power in the world. Congrats to our valiant Service Members and God Bless the United States of America.’
Democrats are the worst people that have ever existed.
satan spawn
b/c one slip up
one show of positivity towards america and your a trump supporting racist who must be destroyed
*unless there is a Democrat President
Always read the fine print.
I say this in admiration, not criticism. Is there another country in the world, possibly excepting Israel, that would expend the number of personnel and equipment that we expended to rescue this airman in those circumstances? Kudos to the US military!
This rescue reminds me of the Bat 21 rescue of the Vietnam war. We lost many assets and men in that mission to retrieve one man. It is a proud tradition we have as a nation, leave no one behind if at all possible. Good job USA.
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