Trump presents the rescue of the American pilot as a great military victory against Iran

WashingtonDonald Trump has indulged in recounting his own version of "Saving Private Ryan" to try to convince Americans that the promise of "America First" has not drowned in the mud of Iran. The US president appeared this Monday to explain how the rescue of his pilot who crashed in the south of the Persian country last Friday unfolded. Trump clung to Hollywood epic to cover up the gasoline price that is increasingly squeezing citizens' pockets. "In the US Army, we leave no soldier behind," he stated. The premise does not apply to the most vulnerable who depend on social programs that the magnate wants to cut (about 73 billion dollars) with the aim of increasing the Pentagon's budget by 40% for the fiscal year 2027. The president has once again used his biblical rhetoric, hoping that the rescue of a soldier will perform a miracle to compensate for the thirteen casualties in a war he still doesn't know how to justify. "We have a helicopter with many bullet impacts. It's impressive. Nobody has the equipment we have. Nobody has the army we have. Not even close: it is, by far, the most powerful in the world. Flight crews and combat aircraft took extraordinary risks to rescue their fellow service members," Trump recounted. The magnate has invoked the warmongering epic to threaten Iran again, after extending his ultimatum three times. Initially, if the ayatollahs did not open the Strait of Hormuz this Monday afternoon, Washington was to unleash "hell" on the country. Over the weekend, with the deadline about to expire, he extended it again until this Tuesday at eight in the evening, Washington time. "Iran can be destroyed in a single night, and that night could be tomorrow," said the Republican.

In his speech to the nation last Wednesday, Trump warned Iran that if they did not reach an agreement to reopen the maritime strait, he would return the Persian country to the "Stone Age." "Thanks to the power of our military, every bridge in Iran will be destroyed before midnight tomorrow, and every power plant will stop working, burn, explode, and never be used again," the Republican reiterated this Monday, in case Iran does not reach any agreement with the United States. According to the president, the reason he extended the ultimatum one more day is that he thought it was "inappropriate to do it [bomb] on Easter Day." And he added: "I want to be a good person." The deal should include the reopening of Hormuz.

Trump went so far as to say that Iranians would be "willing to suffer" the hell he has threatened them with if it ultimately secures their freedom. "They would be willing to suffer that to achieve freedom," the tycoon insisted when asked if attacking civilian infrastructure, such as bridges and power plants, would not be a punishment against the population. Many legal experts have already warned that engaging in such actions could constitute war crimes. On the other hand, the president assures that the Iranian civilian population wants the United States to continue bombing the country in order to free themselves from the ayatollahs' regime, even though he also claims that a regime change has already occurred: "We have achieved a regime change. Now we are negotiating with a very different regime than before. We did not do this [this war] to cause a regime change, but it happened." For Trump, contradictions seem not to exist; everything can be and not be at the same time.

A rescue with 200 personnel

The Republican has repeatedly spoken about the pilot's rescue operation, and the fact that it was "a very dangerous mission" but "worth it" to carry out. Trump even listed the number of personnel who participated in the operation: 200 soldiers, 155 aircraft, 4 bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, and 13 rescue aircraft. "They were flying in broad daylight, I think they flew for seven hours over Iran. That's a lot of time over incredibly hostile territory where they have nothing but weapons," he detailed. The president filled a good part of the hour and a half press conference with cinematic scenes and without providing any feasible updates on the war. Over a week ago, the 2,500 Marines who were aboard the Tripoli arrived in the Middle East, and by now the other two thousand who are aboard the Boxer should also be arriving. These are military units specialized in ground operations. Trump is beating the war drums to silence the questions accumulating in the air about the future of the conflict, the supposed negotiations, and the oil drought.

The president was accompanied at the press conference by the Director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and the Chief of Staff, General Dan Caine. The intelligence agency played a key role in locating the downed pilot, who hid in a mountain ridge to avoid detection by Iranian forces. Both Ratcliffe and Hegseth also intervened to offer their own allegories about the rescue operation. If Trump said the location seemed like it was from a "movie," Hegseth went a step further with mystical metaphors and parallels to the mystery of resurrection: "As you can see, he was shot down on Good Friday, he was hidden in a cave all Saturday, and was rescued on Sunday, and evacuated from Iran as the sun rose on Easter Sunday. A reborn pilot. God is good."

One of the few novelties Trump offered in Monday's appearance is his determination to pursue the person who leaked to the press that the F-15E pilot had been successfully rescued, before the second crew member was out of danger. "We will be able to find out because we will go to the media that published it and tell them: it is a matter of national security, hand it over or you will go to jail," he stated, adding that the journalist could go to jail for writing the article. "The person who made the story will go to jail if they don't say it." It is not clear which media outlet or which journalist Trump was threatening.

The US president has once again criticized European countries for not wanting to help him in his military campaign against Iran and has also reiterated that NATO is a "paper tiger." In recent days, he has revived the idea of abandoning the defense pact as punishment for the lack of response from allies to his call to form a military coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This Wednesday, Trump and his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will meet in Washington with the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte. It remains to be seen how they receive him.