Trump threatens media with jail unless they reveal source of Iran rescue operation leak

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that someone leaked information about the incident in which an Iranian attack shot down a U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter jet. He vowed to find the leaker, reveal the source of the information, and face jail time if the person refuses, but he did not name which media outlet or which reporter was involved.

After a U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran last Friday, multiple U.S. media outlets reported that, at the time, two pilots aboard were rescued and the other was missing. The outlets included The New York Times, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the online media Axios, among others. Trump criticized that the reports in question threatened the rescue operation underway, but luckily the missing airman was ultimately successfully rescued.

He said: “For an entire hour we didn’t publicly announce that the first person was rescued, and then someone leaked the information. We hope to find the leaker; we are working hard to identify him.” He added: “We are going to go after the media that released the information, and tell them that, for national security, either you disclose the source of the information, or you go to prison.”

Trump also revealed that more than 170 military aircraft took part in the rescue operation. In the effort to search for the second pilot, 155 aircraft were used, most of them to draw attention away—making the Iranian side believe that the pilot was located elsewhere.

Trump said the pilot who ejected suffered serious injuries. While bleeding, he climbed upward and tried to send a signal indicating his location. U.S. personnel took extremely high risks during the rescue and were subjected to close-range gunfire, but there were no casualties. He also said that the U.S. military destroyed two cargo aircraft trapped in the sand to prevent Iran from obtaining the equipment on board.