Trump issues expletive-laced threat against Iran; details of aviator’s rescue emerge
WASHINGTON— A daring operation deep inside Iran on Saturday night rescued an American officer whose fighter jet had crashed behind enemy lines; It was a dramatic mission involving hundreds of U.S. troops that underscored the ongoing dangers of President Trump’s war.
Early on Easter Sunday morning the president celebrated the mission As one of the bravest of its kind in US history. But he was threatening with anger escalate the conflict Just hours later, he warned Iran that he would order an attack on its vital infrastructure unless Iran agreed to allow maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day in Iran, all rolled into one,” Trump wrote on his social media website. “Nothing like this will happen! Open the damn Throat, you crazy bastards, or you’ll live in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to God.”
It was a precarious moment in the war that the Trump administration had repeatedly promised would end by now. But more than five weeks after the joint U.S. and Israeli offensive began, the president has struggled to define a clear end to the conflict.
New dangers on the battlefield posed by the downing of two US planes on Friday led to a series of risky rescue missions, including a massive operation on Saturday that rescued a missing weapons systems officer.
The Islamic Republic’s stockpile of fissile material capable of producing nuclear warheads remains buried underground in Iranian custody. And Tehran’s dominance of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes every day, has already driven up energy prices around the world, raising fears of a looming oil shock.
In a series of phone calls with reporters on Sunday, Trump said he still wanted the war to end in a few days, not weeks. But he doubled down on the deadline and published a post warning Iran that attacks would increase at Tuesday at 8pm Eastern Time — told a reporter that “very little” would be off the table if Tehran did not capitulate.
“If it happens, it happens,” he told ABC News. “And if it doesn’t, we’ll blow up the whole country.”
A mountain rescue
A senior administration official told The Times that Saturday’s mission began with a deception campaign launched by the CIA to throw off the Iranian military.
The official said the intelligence agency deliberately leaked plans to transport a valuable package first by land convoy to Iran’s southern coast and then by sea to international waters in order to distract Iranian forces from the officer’s actual location in the crevice of a mountain.
The CIA shared details of the officer’s locator beacon with the White House and Department of Defense and tracked his movements in real time as he navigated a ridge nearly 7,000 feet above sea level while awaiting rescue. U.S. forces struck targets in the region to keep Iranian forces at bay before deploying assets for extraction.
“The Iranians were confused and unsure of what was happening,” the official said.
In his statement on social media, Trump acknowledged that the officer was injured while fleeing from Iranian forces and added that “he will be fine.”
It was not immediately clear whether other service members participating in the rescue mission were injured or if the U.S. military encountered any other potential disruptions.
The Iranian military claimed credit for shooting down additional US aircraft as the operation progressed, including two Black Hawk helicopters and two C-130 military transport planes. “The so-called rescue operation of the US Army,” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesman for Iran’s military command, “was completely failed by Iran.” [timely] “The presence of Iranian armed forces.”
US officials said they blew up the plane themselves after landing in Iran to unload equipment and personnel for the mission.
The loss of additional American aircraft was seen by some in Iran as evidence that the US mission was not a complete success.
But the U.S. military’s ability to land and operate so deep inside the country (just south of Isfahan, a major city and home to Iran’s largest atomic science facility) has raised concerns, among other things, that U.S. forces could begin conducting additional ground operations anywhere in the country and at any time of their choosing.
US officials said that the weapons systems officer was ejected with the pilot from the F-15 fighter jet, which was shot down by enemy fire on Friday, and that the pilot landed in a separate location and was rescued a few hours after the attack.
An A-10 Thunderbolt II also crashed that day under circumstances disputed by the two sides. The U.S. military has not commented on the condition of that aircraft or its crew, but a U.S. official told The Times that the sole member of the aircraft was successfully rescued and all airmen involved in Friday’s events are now “safe and accountable.”
Iran responded
Iran’s pugnacious parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, has continued to troll the Trump administration day after day, posting a photo showing the smoking wreckage of what appears to be two planes and two helicopters.
“If the United States wins three more victories like this, it will be completely ruined,” Qalibaf wrote. He concluded with a clapping emoji.
He later responded to Trump’s threat to target energy infrastructure with another tweet on X, saying his “reckless moves are driving the USA into a living HELL for every family.”
Trump had initially given Tehran 10 days to negotiate a ceasefire and demanded an end to Iran’s attacks in the strait and a complete end to its nuclear program.
“Our entire region will burn because you insist on following.” [Benjamin] Referring to the Israeli prime minister, Galibaf said, “Netanyahu’s orders” and added, “Make no mistake, you cannot gain anything from war crimes.”
Wilner reported from Washington and Bulos from Beirut.
