Trump outlines pilot rescue mission amid Iran war during White House press conference

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