‘God was watching us:’ President Donald Trump touts rescue operation of US airmen as ‘Easter miracle’

The Trump administration briefed the American people Monday on how the U.S. retrieved two airmen from behind enemy lines over Easter weekend, invoking religious themes throughout the press conference.

“God was watching us,” President Donald Trump said of the successful and complex rescue mission. War Secretary Pete Hegseth compared the retrieval to Jesus Christ’s resurrection, noting the airmen were shot down on Good Friday, and one of them hid in a cave all of Saturday and was rescued on Sunday as “a pilot reborn.”

From the White House press briefing room, Trump, Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and General Dan Caine praised the U.S. military’s success.

After Iran struck an F-15E Strike Eagle on Friday, the pilot and the weapons systems officer ejected and hid behind enemy lines awaiting rescue in southwest Iran. The pilot was rescued on Friday, while the injured weapons officer evaded capture for nearly 48 hours, hiding in crevices in the Zagros Mountains.

The weapons officer – described as an Air Force colonel – climbed while avoiding enemy detection, hiking up a 7,000-foot ridgeline at one point, The New York Times reported. Navy SEAL Team 6, hundreds of special operators and other military personnel collaborated in the rescue mission, the publication noted.

Iran placed a $60,000 bounty on the colonel’s head once the U.S. adversary learned there was another airman in their territory through media reports. Trump noted he would find the “leaker,” who he called a “sick person,” threatening the unnamed media outlet that first reported the news to reveal its source.

“National security – give it up or go to jail,” Trump said.

The president branded the rescue missions as “one of the most daring search and rescue Operations in U.S. History,” noting the second operation involved 155 aircraft and hundreds of military personnel while “thousands” of Iranians searched for the airman.

“I ordered the U.S. Armed Forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home. A risky decision, because we could have ended up with 100 dead as opposed to 1 or 2,” Trump said Monday. “It’s a hard decision to make, but in the United States military, we leave no American behind. We don’t do it.”

Ratcliffe noted that the U.S. “confused” and “embarrassed” the Iranians through the successful mission and “deception campaign,” which misled the officer’s pursuers to another region. The airman was found “alive and concealed in a mountain crevice. … Still concealed to the enemy, but not to the CIA,” Ratcliffe said.

Hegseth noted Monday that the weapons officer was “able to activate his emergency transponder, [and] his first message was simple – and it was powerful: ‘God is good.'”

Trump confirmed that both airmen are in good health on Monday at the White House Easter Egg Roll, where beside first lady Melania Trump and a person dressed as the Easter Bunny, he commended the courage of the rescued airmen and the strength of the U.S. military.

In a text message to NBC News, Trump also referred to the rescue as “an Easter miracle” on Sunday.

Caine said that the airmen “always knew we would be coming to get them” and that the two rescue operations demonstrate “our nation’s most sacred obligation to our military service members. We leave no one behind.”

When asked by a reporter whether Trump believes God supports America’s actions in the war, Trump said, “I do because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of. God doesn’t like what’s happening. I don’t like what’s happening. … I don’t like seeing people killed.”

Trump has given Iran until 8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday to open the chokepoint known as the Strait of Hormuz, under threat of destroying the Iran’s infrastructure, saying Monday that “the entire country could be taken out in one night. And that night might be tomorrow night.”

Trump also posted on Sunday, Easter morning, that “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the f***ing Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Image credit: The White House