Apr 6, 2026 minute read

President Donald Trump has said that the administration is looking to identify a leaker who disclosed information about the missing airman who was shot down in Iran and has threatened to jail the leaker and those that originally publicized the information. 

“We didn’t talk about the first one for an hour, then somebody leaked something, which will hopefully find that leaker. We’re looking very hard to find that leaker. And talked about, there’s somebody missing,” Trump said. 

“They basically said that we have one and there’s somebody missing. Well, they [Iran] didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information. So whoever it was, that 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 commented that Iran did not know about the airmen who were still alive before the information was released, and that the rescue operation became much harder as a consequence. “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,” Trump added.

“It also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him. All of a sudden, they know that there’s somebody out there. They see all these planes coming in. It became a much more difficult operation because a leaker leaked that we have one, we’ve rescued one, but there’s another one out there we’re trying to get.”

Iran shot down in F-15 last week and within hours on Friday, the pilot had been rescued. However, the manhunt was not over as a second crew member was also trapped on the ground in Iran for the next two days, only to be rescued in the early hours of Easter morning.