TRUMP FULL SPEECH: Trump Warns Iran Could Be “Taken Out in One Night”

[0:00] And we have the people that are most involved. [0:02] We'll give you exactitude. [0:06] And we're here today to celebrate the success [0:08] of one of the largest, most complex, [0:10] most harrowing combat searches. [0:14] I guess you would call it a search and rescue mission [0:17] ever attempted by the military. [0:20] Generally, when planes are knocked down in war, [0:22] especially when you're fighting a strong group, [0:26] an evil group, you can't really do this [0:29] because you send in 200 men to pick up one, [0:34] and it's something that's usually not attempted [0:37] as much as you want to attempt. [0:39] And bad things happen to that one or two. [0:42] And in this case, we did two, [0:44] and it might not have been attempted before, but we did. [0:48] And we had great talent, [0:50] but we got a little luck, too, I would say. [0:53] And we were helped by a lot of people, [0:56] a lot of great people, [0:58] and it was an honor to be involved with it. [1:01] It's very historic. [1:03] This is a rescue that's very historic. [1:06] It'll go down in the books late Thursday night, [1:09] an American F-15 fighter jet [1:12] went down deep inside enemy territory in Iran [1:16] while participating in Operation Epic Fury, [1:20] where we're doing unbelievably well, [1:22] well at a level that nobody's ever seen before. [1:27] The entire country could be taken out in one night, [1:30] and that night might be tomorrow night. [1:33] Both members of the crew ejected from the aircraft [1:36] and landed alive on Iranian soil. [1:39] I immediately was asked to make a decision. [1:44] I ordered the U.S. Armed Forces to do whatever was necessary [1:48] to bring our brave warriors back home. [1:50] A risky decision, because we could have ended up [1:54] with 100 dead as opposed to one or two. [1:57] It's a hard decision to make. [2:00] But in the United States military, [2:02] we leave no American behind. [2:04] We don't do it. [2:06] Within hours, our armed forces deployed 21 military aircraft [2:09] into hostile airspace, [2:11] many flying at very low altitude, being shot by bullets. [2:17] You bring rifles into play when you're [2:18] going that low, but there are also certain advantages. [2:24] And in broad daylight over Iran for seven hours, [2:27] at times facing very, very heavy enemy fire, [2:31] we have a helicopter that's got a lot of bullets in it. [2:33] It's amazing. [2:35] We just realized how good those weapons are, [2:38] those machines are. [2:40] Nobody has the equipment that we have, [2:44] and nobody has the military that we have, not even close. [2:47] The most powerful military anywhere in the world by far. [2:51] The flight crews and warfighters aboard those aircraft [2:54] took extraordinary risks to rescue [2:56] their fellow service members. [2:59] This first wave of search and rescue forces [3:01] successfully located the pilot of the F-15, [3:05] and he was extracted from enemy territory [3:08] by an HH-60 Jolly Green II helicopter. [3:13] Fabulous machine as our warriors faced gunfire [3:16] at very close range. [3:19] It's amazing that when you look at the machinery, [3:23] what happened? [3:24] He was even injured. [3:27] Meanwhile, the second crew member, [3:29] a weapons system officer, a highly respected colonel, [3:32] had landed a significant distance away from the pilot [3:35] when you're going at those speeds. [3:37] Even if you go out two or three seconds later, [3:40] it's miles, it's miles and miles away [3:44] because you're going fast. [3:46] He was injured quite badly and stranded in an area, [3:50] teeming with terrorists [3:51] from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Rough Group, [3:55] as well as besieged military vehicles. [3:56] He was shot and killed. [3:57] And the militia and local authorities, [4:02] many on top of everything else, [4:04] they told the communities, actually, [4:08] the people of Iran, [4:10] they were given a tremendous incentive to find this pilot. [4:15] Despite the peril, the officer followed his training [4:19] and climbed into the treacherous mountain terrain [4:21] and started climbing toward a higher altitude, [4:25] something they were trained to do, [4:27] in order to help the drone. [4:28] evade capture they want to always go as far away from the site of the shoot down you want to go as [4:38] far away because they all head right to that site you want to be as far away as you can [4:42] and he was injured and he was an amazing amazing thing he scaled cliff faces bleeding rather [4:52] profusely treated his own wounds and contacted american forces to transmit his location they [4:59] have a very sophisticated beeper type apparatus that is on them at all times and when they when [5:10] they go out on these missions they make sure they have lots of battery space and they're in good [5:15] shape and this one worked really well amazingly saved his life we immediately mobilized a massive [5:22] operation to retrieve him from the mountain holdout and he kept going higher and higher [5:29] the mountain kept getting rougher and rougher and really very very hard to find [5:33] the second rescue mission involved 155 aircraft including four bombers 64 fighters 48 refueling [5:43] tankers 13 rescue aircraft and more we were bringing them all over and a lot of it was [5:50] subterfuge we wanted to have them think he was in a different location because they had a vast [5:57] military force out there thousands thousands of people were looking so we wanted them to look in [6:03] different areas so we were scattered [6:06] all over like we were right on top of them we had seven different locations where they thought and [6:12] they were very confused they said well wait a minute they've got groups here they've got groups [6:16] there it's an amazing thing i was listening to these great people these great generals general [6:25] raisin kane was amazing and pete hexeth was amazing but i listened to the whole thing it [6:29] was pretty amazing so they had all these different sites where everybody thought he was located we [6:36] think we have them over there because they have nine planes [6:39] circling a little area that's 25 miles down the coast so in a breathtaking show of skill and [6:48] precision lethality and force america's military descended on the area the real area engaged the [6:56] enemy rescued the stranded officer destroyed all threats and exited iranian territory while taking [7:04] no casualties of any kind the heroic f-15 weapons system officer had evaded capture on the ground in [7:12] iran [7:14] for almost 48 hours that's a long time when you're in tough shape and when you're bleeding [7:20] it's a long time when uh when we left as you probably know we had two large planes [7:28] old pretty old planes he carried a lot we needed a lot more equipment going in than [7:33] coming out obviously because going in we needed to be able to scale mountains [7:39] and we had a lot of equipment but the sand was it was sandy wet sand so we thought there may [7:45] be a problem taking off because of the weight of the plane and then we also had all the men jumping [7:51] back onto the planes and they got pretty well bogged down and we had a contingency plan which [7:58] was unbelievable where lighter faster aircraft came in and they took them out we blew up the old [8:04] planes we blew them up to smithereens because we had equipment on the planes that frankly we'd like [8:10] to take but i don't think it was worthwhile spending another four hours there taking it off so [8:16] we didn't want anybody to have the best best equipment anywhere in the world we didn't want [8:20] anybody examining our uh anti-aircraft and other equipment so these were large planes that were old [8:29] and pretty old and we blew them up and we had faster lighter planes come in and they were able [8:36] to land on the sand we needed the bigger planes because we had so much equipment that we knew we [8:40] took three helicopters over there which were very strongly used and couldn't have lived without them [8:45] they did and they performed well [8:47] unbelievably well and if you'd see it you wouldn't believe it they came off the plane [8:52] and these guys had them the the uh the rotors were off they rebuilt these helicopters [9:00] in less than 10 minutes and that was one of the more amazing things these are helicopters [9:08] small unbelievably powerful but small very small so it can get into certain areas [9:15] and they got them off the plane and they rebuilt all three of them [9:21] but i would say a lot of people do this and give it some kind of credit to the people who [9:24] did it as a matter of less than i would say less than 10 minutes it's pretty amazing what [9:30] the the genius of these people who would think that you think it would take five days to build [9:34] them and in some companies who would take five days and they wouldn't do it well but they served [9:39] us well they as commander chief i never forget the extraordinary risk taken by the warriors that we [9:45] send into battle and the genius i mean think of it having a contingency of three planes waiting [9:50] that we probably won't be able to take off. [9:53] And the planes really got bogged. [9:56] Sand was... This was not much of a runway. [9:59] This was a farm, not a runway. [10:00] It was a farm, but it did the trick. [10:04] But to have a contingency, [10:05] as opposed to having to wait two days, [10:07] can you imagine right in the middle? [10:08] This was central. [10:11] This was right... [10:12] You would call it central casting [10:14] if you were doing a movie for location. [10:16] And probably the toughest area of Iran [10:19] where we'd be sitting there. [10:20] So these planes came in. [10:21] Those pilots came in so fast and so quick [10:24] and got out of there. [10:26] Everybody got aboard and just got 15-minute intervals. [10:29] One load out. [10:31] One load out. [10:33] One load out. [10:35] It happened. [10:36] And we were watching, and we said, that's amazing. [10:39] In many ways, I was almost more impressed [10:42] by the contingency that we had [10:45] than the fact that we would have had a runway [10:49] or decent soil, but it was an amazing thing. [10:52] But we thank God. [10:53] We thank God for every single one of them. [10:55] And the talent, the genius is not even talent. [10:58] It's genius. [10:59] It's the whole ball game, every one of them. [11:02] If you look at what we did with Maduro, [11:05] we went into a military compound, [11:07] a massive with thousands and thousands of soldiers [11:10] within a matter of minutes. [11:12] And he lived behind iron doors. [11:14] There were steel doors, broke them down so quickly. [11:17] And within almost minutes, [11:19] he was in the back of these planes. [11:21] It was a similar group, incredible. [11:23] We have incredibly talented people. [11:25] And if the time comes, [11:27] we move heaven and earth to bring them home safely. [11:31] We're going to bring our people home safely. [11:33] I want to thank every member of the U.S. [11:35] Armed Forces involved in these historic operations. [11:38] They really were historic. [11:39] It's just not something that's done. [11:42] And you'd understand it. [11:43] Not that they don't want to do it, [11:45] but when you're going into areas, [11:47] when you look at these helicopters, [11:48] when you look at the amount of bullets [11:49] and everything else that they took, [11:51] when you go into these areas, [11:53] you don't come out like we came out. [11:56] God was watching us tell you, well, [11:58] it was the Easter. [12:00] We were in Easter territory, I guess. [12:04] But God was watching us, amazing. [12:06] Because when you look at the machinery, [12:07] they took, they took damage. [12:10] Tells you, first thing I said is, [12:11] these are unbelievable machines, [12:13] how they flew back and not even much of a problem. [12:17] But these two extraordinary rescues, [12:19] because it was too, and as you probably know, [12:22] we didn't talk about the first one for an hour. [12:25] Then somebody leaked something, [12:27] which we'll hopefully find that leaker. [12:29] We're looking very hard to find that leaker. [12:31] And talked about, there's somebody missing. [12:36] They basically said that we have one [12:39] and there's somebody missing. [12:40] Well, they didn't know there was somebody missing [12:41] until this leaker gave the information. [12:44] So whoever it was, we think we'll be able to find it out [12:46] because we're going to go to the media company [12:50] that released it. [12:51] And we're going to say, national security, [12:54] give it up or go to jail. [12:57] And we know who, and you know who we're talking about, [13:01] because some things you can't do. [13:02] Because when they did that, all of a sudden, [13:05] the entire, [13:06] country of Iran knew that there was a pilot [13:10] that was somewhere on their land [13:13] that was fighting for his life. [13:15] And it also made it much more difficult for the pilots [13:20] and for the people going in to search for him. [13:23] All of a sudden, they know that there's somebody out there. [13:26] They see all these planes coming in. [13:28] It became a much more difficult operation [13:31] because a leaker leaked that we have one, [13:35] we've rescued one, [13:37] but there's another one out there [13:39] that we're trying to get. [13:41] So actually, the country, Iran, put out a major notice, [13:47] you all saw it, offering a very big award [13:51] for anybody that captures the pilot. [13:53] So in addition to a hostile, very talented, [13:57] very good, very evil military, [13:59] we had millions of people trying to get an award. [14:04] So when you add that to it, [14:07] but we have to find that leaker [14:08] because that's a sick person. [14:10] Probably didn't realize the extent of how bad it was. [14:13] I can't imagine that the person did, [14:15] but we're gonna find out it's national security. [14:18] And the person that did the story will go to jail [14:23] if he doesn't say, and that doesn't last long. [14:25] And I think everybody would understand [14:27] that they put this mission at great risk. [14:29] They put that man at great risk [14:30] and they put the hundreds of people that went in [14:33] looking for him because everyone now knows [14:36] that we're going in. [14:38] Over the past 37 days, [14:40] America's armed forces have carried out more than 10,000 [14:45] combat flights over Iran, unheard of, [14:47] striking more than 13,000 targets. [14:50] The F-15 we lost last week was the first manned aircraft [14:54] downed by the enemy in this entire operation [14:57] with thousands and thousands of flights. [14:59] They got lucky. [15:00] It was a lucky hit. [15:02] You know, eventually you get lucky, [15:04] but we got lucky too because we got both of them back. [15:08] But it's a record that is unparalleled [15:10] in the history of military air operations. [15:13] Nobody's ever seen anything like it. [15:15] It's such an honor to be involved. [15:18] We were up late at night and then we were waiting [15:23] for those contingent planes to come in and we said, [15:27] come on, let's go get in because they're waiting out [15:29] on this farm without a runway with wet, crummy soil, [15:38] sand, mostly sand, wet sand, and it eats planes alive. [15:42] And we're waiting and we're saying, [15:44] I hope that one can land and take off. [15:48] And they came in like magic. [15:49] Boom, boom, boom, one after another. [15:51] It was like genius. [15:53] So impressed by that. [15:54] Because we were a little concerned. [15:56] We said, boy, if they don't get in and get up fast, [16:00] we're sitting in the middle. [16:01] And that's called Iran Prime, right, General? [16:05] That's where the whole bet is. [16:07] And here we are sitting there waiting for a plane. [16:11] But they came in so fast and so hard. [16:13] And these guys knew exactly what they did. [16:15] Let's go. [16:15] Come on, get in. [16:16] Let's go. [16:18] They came one right after another. [16:20] Not at the same time. [16:21] They don't want to come at the same time. [16:23] They had to come right after each other. [16:24] They didn't have any room. [16:25] There was barely any room to land. [16:28] Tiny little patch of very wet earth and sand. [16:33] So I just, I'm so proud of the people that I have standing up [16:37] here with me and many others that worked. [16:39] I mean, so many. [16:41] Steve Witkoff's over here. [16:42] He's doing fantastically. [16:43] Jared Kushner. [16:45] But the people that are here, the job they did is amazing. [16:49] And I think I'm going to introduce the head of the CIA. [16:52] And he is a man who, he's central casting, okay? [16:57] If we cast a movie, he's going to play the head of the CIA. [17:00] He's one of the few. [17:02] John Ratcliffe, he did a phenomenal job that night. [17:06] He did something that I don't know if you want to talk about it. [17:08] If you want, you can. [17:09] I'm not sure you're supposed to. [17:10] I'm not going to talk about it. [17:11] But he really, the CIA was very responsible for finding this little speck. [17:16] It's like they used an expression on one of the shows the general was talking about. [17:21] It's like finding a needle in a haystack, finding this pilot. [17:25] And the CIA was unbelievable. [17:27] And you may, if you can, you'll talk, it might be classified, in which case I'd have [17:31] to put him in jail if he talks about it. [17:34] And I don't want to put him in jail. [17:35] He doesn't deserve that. [17:37] So John, do you want to say a few words? [17:38] Thank you.