Trump reveals US pilot’s 3-word radio message that sparked fears of Iranian trap — What did he say?

US President Donald Trump on Sunday (Apr 5) said that the United States was initially sceptical about a message from the stranded F-15E weapons system officer, who was rescued from Iran after his aircraft went down in Iranian territory. This comes after Trump announced that the airman was “SAFE and SOUND” after he was recovered from Iran following “the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History.” The F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down over southern Iran on Friday (Apr 3), the first such incident since the start of the war. While the first pilot was rescued by the US forces earlier, the second had remained missing behind the enemy lines as American and Iranian forces raced to locate him. Reportedly, the second crew member from the downed F-15E has been recovered after a “heavy firefight”.

In an interview following the rescue of the US pilot, Trump told Axios that the US was worried that the Iranians were playing a trick to lure US forces into a trap when they received a message from the serviceman stranded in Iran.

What did the US pilot say in his message?

The weapons system officer sent a short, unusual message over his radio after ejecting from the aircraft over Iran. Trump said that the US military had “beeping information” about his location. However, after his radio message, officials suspected he might have been captured and Iranians were “sending false signals” to try to lure U.S. forces into a trap.

According to a US defense official, the exact phrase from the airman was: “God is Good”. The same phrase was used by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on X after the US announced the successful rescue of the F-15E crew member.

According to Trump, the pilot’s message on the radio “sounded like something a Muslim would say.” However, people who knew the officer said that it wasn’t an unusual phrase for the pilot and that he was a religious person.

“It was not completely clear early on, but we stuck with it and verified he was alive and not captured. And those who knew him said he is religious,” the official told Axios.

After it was confirmed that the pilot was alive and not captured by Iran, the rescue operation took place swiftly to locate him and bring him back.

How was US pilot rescued?

Trump said that around 200 troops from special operations units took part in the rescue mission. The officer hid in a crevice in the mountain for more than 24 hours to evade capture by the Iranians.

According to a New York Times report, hundreds of special forces troops and dozens of US warplanes, helicopters, and cyber, space and other intelligence capabilities were employed to save the crew member. The US forces had a firefight with Iranian convoys. The report added that two transport planes that would carry the commandos and the airmen to safety got stuck at a remote base in Iran, following which they decided to fly three new planes to extract all the US military personnel and the airmen. They blew up the two disabled planes to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands.
Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing conflicts in West Asia involving Israel, Iran, the US, Gulf nations and non-state actors like Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, Islamic State, and others. Claims and counterclaims, disinformation and misinformation are being made online and offline. Given this context, WION cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, social media posts, photos and videos.