Trump Threatens to Jail Journalist Who Leaked News of American Pilot Rescue in Iran - (Video)

Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened an unnamed media outlet with jail if it does not reveal the source of a leak about an American military pilot missing in Iran.

Trump said during a press conference that he would approach the media outlet involved demanding the source be disclosed, adding: “National security... either you reveal the information or you go to jail.”

In the same context, Trump revealed details of a daring rescue operation recently carried out by U.S. forces to save pilots after their F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down inside Iranian territory.

Trump explained that the operation involved more than 170 aircraft, with 21 aircraft participating in rescuing the first crew member, while 155 aircraft took part in the second mission. He noted that two transport planes got stuck in the sand, forcing rescue teams to blow them up.

At a press conference attended by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe announced that the agency carried out a “disinformation operation” to confuse the Iranians and prevent them from finding the pilots, saying: “In addition to the human and technical resources mobilized by the President to locate our pilots, the agency carried out a disinformation operation to sow confusion among the Iranians who were relentlessly tracking them.”