'We are looking very hard to find that leaker': Trump vows to jail reporters who revealed missing US officer in Iran

US President Donald Trump said on Monday (April 6) that his administration is searching for the ‘leaker’ responsible for revealing early reports about an Air Force officer missing in Iran after his fighter jet was shot down last week. Trump warned that the reporter behind the story could face jail time if they refuse to disclose their source. “It became a much more difficult operation because a leaker leaked,” Trump said during a press conference outlining the two rescue missions of crew members whose aircraft was downed over Iran. “We’re looking very hard to find that leaker.” He added, “The person who did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say.”

Trump argued that reports about a second missing crew member complicated rescue efforts by alerting Iran and prompting them to search for the individual. “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. “We have to find that leaker because that’s a sick person.”

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‘Finding downed airman was like hunting for a single grain of sand’: CIA director

CIA Director John Ratcliffe described the rescue operation as extremely difficult, calling it “comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert.” “This was also a race against the clock, as we needed to locate the downed aviator as quickly as possible, while at the same time keeping our enemies misdirected,” Ratcliffe said. He added that the CIA “executed a deception campaign” to confuse Iranian forces.

Ratcliffe said the CIA confirmed the service member was alive on Saturday morning using “human and technical assets,” and passed that information to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who then informed Trump to initiate the rescue mission. “Because it is the unique tradition of the US Armed Forces that we leave no man or woman behind, this was a no-fail mission,” he said.

The airman was “concealed in a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA,” Ratcliffe added.

“The CIA executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians who were desperately hunting for our airmen,” he said, noting that one airman remained hidden until rescue.

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