US President Donald Trump said that the US was initially concerned that a message from the airman stranded in Iran after his F-15 was shot down was actually from Iranians baiting US forces into a trap, Trump told Axios on Sunday.
After ejecting from the jet, the officer sent a message over his radio saying “Power be to God,” according to Trump. A US defense official said the exact wording had been “God is good,” Axios reported.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted the phrase ‘God is good’ in a post on X/Twitter on Sunday morning.
Despite the airman being a religious man, Trump told Axios that the message concerned him.
“What he said on the radio sounded like something a Muslim would say,” Trump said.
US, Iran raced to find stranded airman
According to Trump, the US was able to find the officer hiding in a mountain crevice and had “beeping information” on his location.
"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 defense official said to Axios.
An hour after confirming the rescue, Trump told Axios that the US was not the only one searching for the airman.
“Thousands of these savages were hunting him down,” Trump said of the Iranian military. “Even the population was looking for him. They offered people a bonus if they captured him.
Trump acknowledged that the IDF did help the US “a little bit,” calling them “good partners,” Axios wrote.
“We are like a big brother and little brother,” Trump said.
Sources have told The Jerusalem Post that Israeli intelligence was a component of the rescue’s success, with the level of coordination reaching the highest echelons of both militaries.
Throughout the tense 48-hour window of the rescue, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and US Central Command Commander Admiral Brad Cooper remained in direct contact.
Additionally, the IDF cooperated with US forces to launch strikes strategically designed to divert Iranian forces away from the crash site and targeted specific Iranian assets to sabotage Iran’s race towards the airmen.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.