When it was announced that Trump spent over $600 million dollars to safely evacuate the ejected airman, a lot of people criticised him.

But the thing here is that, Trump wasn’t just evacuating an American soldier; he was denying Iran what would have been the greatest leverage of the war.

A leverage more important than closing the Strait of Hormuz.

That $600 million dollars did not only rescue the airman, it energised Trump and put him in a better position to discuss deals with Iran.

This was not about the $600 million dollars; it was about preserving the dignity of the US before the judging eyes of the world.

Trump perfectly understood this assignment.

Key Points from the U.S. Military’s Miraculous Rescue Press Conference:

1. On Friday at 5:40 a.m. local time in Iran, a U.S. F-15E fighter jet was hit by a shoulder-fired heat-seeking missile. The missile struck the jet’s engine nozzle, causing an explosion. Trump said it was “pure luck.”
2. The pilot and weapons officer ejected and parachuted to safety, but because the plane was moving at extremely high speed, the two landed far apart.
3. Upon learning of the incident, some military generals opposed the rescue (“It could result in over a hundred casualties; the risk is too great”), but President Trump decided to launch a full-scale rescue effort, supported by General Caine and Secretary of War Hegseth. The plan was formulated by the U.S. Central Command.
4. Two hours later, 21 aircraft were deployed. On Friday in broad daylight, they charged into Iran under a hail of Iranian gunfire to save the men. A helicopter was damaged, and after an A-10 attack aircraft was hit, the pilot struggled to fly it into Kuwaiti territory before ejecting, crashing the plane inside Kuwait.
5. After the U.S. successfully rescued the first man, no specific details were released. But within an hour, someone in the government leaked the news that “one man is still unrescued” to the media. Once the media published it, Iran quickly dispatched a large force to capture him.
6. President Trump said: We will track down the leaker. If the media won’t tell us who it is, we’ll send their people to jail because they threatened national security and put the pilot and rescue personnel in danger.
7. The second man was already injured upon landing. He bandaged himself, then moved away from the landing site and climbed up into the mountains.
8. CIA officials learned via the pilot’s beeper that the second man was still out there, but they didn’t know where. They combed through satellite imagery in a “needle in a haystack” search—using Trump’s words, “finding a needle in a haystack”—and finally spotted a moving figure. After tracking this person climbing higher for 45 minutes, the CIA concluded: This is our weapons officer.
9. CIA Director Ratcliffe immediately notified the Secretary of War, who notified the president. The Trump administration issued the order: Full-scale rescue!
10. Immediately, 155 aircraft were mobilized, including four bombers, 64 fighter jets, 48 aerial refueling tankers, and 13 rescue aircraft. Among them, two C-130 Hercules transport planes landed at a farm 250 kilometers southwest of Iran, near Kuwait, unloading rescue personnel and helicopters.
11. After the weapons officer stopped on a ridgeline, his first words were: God Is Good! He then hid in a crevice between rocks on the mountaintop for a full day and night.
12. The U.S. military set up decoys, staging rescue operations in seven different areas to confuse the Iranian search forces, leaving them unsure where the weapons officer was. The CIA also spread false information, causing the Iranian troops to head in the wrong direction and miss their target.
13. Rescue forces established a safety perimeter around the weapons officer’s actual location, eliminating anyone who approached. They finally found him in the rock crevice on the mountaintop and airlifted him out by helicopter.
14. When all personnel and equipment returned to the C-130s at the farm and were ready for takeoff, they discovered that the wheels of both planes were stuck in the wet sand and couldn’t take off.
15. The military immediately activated the backup plan, flying in three lighter, faster replacement aircraft. The troops quickly disassembled three light helicopters from the stuck C-130s and mounted them onto the new planes, loaded the personnel, and flew away.

One plane came and went every 15 minutes, and after 45 minutes, all three planes successfully departed!

The entire operation lasted 45 hours and 56 minutes.

Reports say President Trump went two days without sleep for this rescue.

When Trump discussed the Iran rescue operation, he revealed that Iran originally had no idea that U.S. military personnel were missing. The information released by the CIA consistently stated that only one pilot had ejected and had already been successfully rescued.

In reality, the CIA was working to pinpoint the location of the second downed flight officer, while the Department of Defense was formulating a rescue plan.

As a result, someone within the U.S. leaked the information, telling the media that another pilot was hiding in the mountains.

This tipped off Iran that a U.S. military pilot was on the run, and the Iranian side issued a bounty of up to 100 million Iranian currency—equivalent to $60,000—in an attempt to capture the American flight officer.

This immediately made it much more difficult for the U.S. military to rescue this colonel flight officer. After the U.S. military succeeded in the rescue, Trump didn’t hesitate to draw up a new strike plan against Iran, which we’ll see play out soon.

As for the leaker, Trump stated that if the media didn’t publicly disclose the leaker’s identity, the media would bear criminal responsibility, and the leaker would absolutely go to prison. Trump’s exact words were: “The people doing the reporting at the media, if they don’t reveal the leaker’s identity, they’re going to prison!”

🚨 The media outlet who published the US had only saved ONE of two F-15 airmen—risking the mission to save the second—was Israel’s Channel 12, per NYP

The reporter, Amit Segal, just told NYP he “will protect my sources,” despite President Trump’s threats

Segal cited “western sources” in his post (as opposed to “US sources”), and a second Israeli reporter, Ariel Kahana, later specified the news came from “Israeli sources”

President Trump made clear today he’s HELLBENT on jailing the leaker.

Israel MUST hand these sources over to the US Department of Justice.

HUNDREDS of our troops could’ve been KlLLED by this leak.

NO MERCY!