President Donald Trump on Monday demanded media outlets identify a government leaker who disclosed details of the Iran rescue mission while the operation was still underway, warning that reporters who refuse to name their source could face jail time on national security grounds.
“We’re looking very hard to find that leaker,” Trump told reporters. “Whoever it was, we think we’ll be able to find it out because we’re going to go to the media company that released it and we’re going to say, ‘National security, give it up or go to jail.'”
Trump said the leak put a weapons systems officer’s life directly at risk. The airman’s F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran on Good Friday. While his pilot was rescued the same day, the weapons systems officer was forced to hide in a mountain crevice for nearly 48 hours as Iranian forces, now aware of his location, hunted for him. Tehran placed a bounty on the missing American.
“Some things you can’t do,” Trump said. “When they did that, all of a sudden, the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life. And it also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him.”
Trump described the rescue mission as a “massive operation” involving 155 aircraft, including bombers, fighter jets, refueling tankers, and rescue units. U.S. forces engaged with Iranian fighters on the ground before extracting the wounded airman early Sunday morning.
The weapons systems officer was recovered safely and both airmen are now home.
Trump did not name the specific outlet to which his administration believes the leak was sent. He did not say whether formal legal proceedings had been initiated as of Monday.
Federal law does not provide blanket protections for journalists who publish classified material, though shield laws in Washington, D.C. and many states protect reporters from being compelled to identify sources, provided the information was obtained without coercion. The Trump administration has pursued leakers aggressively throughout his second term. A federal judge recently blocked the Justice Department from searching a Washington Post reporter’s devices in a separate classified documents probe.
The weapons systems officer was rescued early Sunday. At Monday’s press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew a parallel between the timeline of the rescue and the Easter story, noting the airman was shot down on Good Friday, spent Saturday hidden in enemy territory, and was flown out of Iran as the sun rose on Easter Sunday.
