US President Donald Trump said on Monday evening that US military forces had carried out a complicated operation to rescue service members, stressing that the US army never leaves American behind.
“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,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“Within hours, our armed forces deployed twenty-one military aircraft into hostile airspace, many flying at very low altitude,” he added. Trump noted that the flight crews and warfighters aboard those aircraft took extraordinary risks to rescue their fellow service members.
“The second rescue mission involved 155 aircraft. 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 of people were looking,” the US president said.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said, “CIA executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians, who were desperately hunting for our airmen. On Saturday morning, we achieved our primary objective by finding and providing confirmation that one of America’s best and bravest was alive” “Following the successful exfiltration on Saturday night, our intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed, and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission,” he added.
For his part, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said, “This was an incredibly dangerous mission, an incredibly dangerous undertaking, but a filled promise made to every American warfighter that you will not be left behind. We will always come find you, and we will always bring you home.”
