Washington D.C. – The United States conducted its largest volume of strikes since the start of operations against Iran on Monday, with even heavier action expected Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced.
President Donald Trump, joined by senior national security advisors, detailed the successful recovery of an American airman who was downed over Iranian territory last Friday. The pilot, who remained hidden in mountainous terrain to evade capture, was located and rescued by hundreds of US forces on Sunday morning.
“It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Trump said, emphasizing the complexity of the operation. CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed that the agency had conducted a “deception campaign” to mislead Iranian forces about the airman’s location. Confirmation of the pilot’s survival came Saturday morning, with the CIA tracking him in a mountain crevice.
The operation involved precision strikes against enemy forces and threats in the area, allowing the airman’s extraction without any US casualties. Hegseth noted the pilot had activated an emergency transponder, sending his first message: “God is good.”
Trump praised the mission as a “breathtaking show of skill, precision, lethality, and force,” highlighting the coordination between military and intelligence assets to ensure the pilot’s safe return.
