Trump threatens to jail journalists in hunt to find leaker of Iran fighter jet story

President Donald Trump has threatened to jail journalists from the media outlet that was the first to report the disappearance of a second airman after the downing of a US fighter jet in Iran on Friday.

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The pilot and “backseat” were recovered by U.S. forces in what the president, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine described as separate and daring operations during a White House news conference Monday.

The pilot was recovered within hours, while the second airman remained stranded on Iranian territory until Sunday morning, when U.S. forces landed and rescued him.

Trump said he would pursue anyone who leaked information about the second airman — which the U.S. government had hoped to keep secret to prevent him from being captured or killed by Iran — and would pressure the media to participate in that investigation.

“We think we can find out,” Trump said. “Because we’re going to go to the media company that published it, and we’re going to say, ‘National security. Drop it or go to jail.'”

A White House official declined to name the outlet in a text message exchange with NBC News, citing a desire to avoid briefing reporters.

The White House press office told NBC News that “an investigation is underway.”

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in response to Trump’s threat against the anonymous news outlet: “News organizations have the right under the First Amendment to publish stories on matters of public importance, including stories that the government would prefer to suppress.” »

“President Trump’s threat to force journalists to disclose their sources raises serious press freedom concerns, because the ability of journalists to do their jobs depends in part on their ability to protect the identities of their sources,” he added. “President Trump’s threat should be understood as an attempt to intimidate the press and prevent journalists from doing the work the public needs them to do.”

Despite the public revelation, the president and his top defense advisers praised U.S. military and intelligence superiority, which they said enabled the dual search and rescue mission. The second operation, which included a fleet of more than 150 planes, was among the most complex in American history, Trump said. And he described the downing of the fighter jet as a “lucky” strike by otherwise overwhelmed Iranian forces.

Trump also reiterated his threat to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping channel for the world’s supply of oil and other goods. Trump said Iran had until 8 p.m. ET Tuesday to reach a deal acceptable to it or the U.S. military.

“The entire country could be destroyed in one night, and that night could be tomorrow night,” Trump said.

The war with Iran is now entering its sixth week, and Trump has indicated he is ready to end it – if he can reach a deal with Iran. Otherwise, he said, it will target power plants and bridges in a devastating attack that would return the country to the “Stone Age.”

“Very few things are off limits,” Trump said.

Within four hours, Trump said, the United States will execute a plan to leave Iran’s bridges “decimated” and all power plants “out of commission, burning, exploding and never to be used again.”

“We don’t want that to happen,” Trump added.

Asked if he was concerned that the destruction of Iran’s infrastructure would amount to a war crime, Trump replied “not at all.”

He said, “I hope I don’t have to do that,” while suggesting that decades of negotiations with the Iranian regime have been fruitless.

Yet, he added, the Iranians appear to be negotiating “in good faith.” Part of what it needs from Iran is the “free flow of oil,” meaning the country should loosen its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz so that oil ships can once safely pass through this vital sea lane.

“I can tell you that we have an active and willing participant on the other side,” he added. “They wish they could make a deal.”

Iran’s capabilities have been so degraded under U.S. bombing that “the biggest problem we have in our negotiations is we can’t communicate,” Trump said.

“We communicate the way we communicated 2,000 years ago, with children bringing a note. They have no communication,” he said.

Trump showed frustration with Iranian officials and their longtime allies who resisted U.S. entreaties to contribute to the war effort, as well as with what he described as a lack of U.S. appetite to pursue a more comprehensive strategy to take Iranian oil.

“If I had a choice, yes,” Trump said of his preference for acquiring Iranian oil reserves. “Because I am first and foremost a businessman.”

There is clear political pressure on the home front to end the war. Americans pay an average of $4.11 per gallon at the gas pump – an increase of more than $1 per gallon since the war began – and it is not at all certain that Congress will pass an emergency supplemental spending bill to finance the war.

On Monday, he once again criticized the NATO military alliance – the main bulwark against Russian aggression since World War II – for failing to help the United States and Israel in their attack on Iran.

“NATO is a paper tiger,” he said. “They didn’t help at all. They went out of their way not to help.”

That said, he said that “besides, we didn’t need it.

He criticized two European allies, Britain and Germany.

He said he told the British leadership, ‘Yes, I’d like a little help’ and the response he received was, ‘No, sir, we’d rather wait until you win.’ » I said, “‘I don’t need any help after we win.'”

As for Germany, he defended its decision not to consult that country’s leaders before attacking Iran.

“They wanted me to go tell them everything I was doing,” Trump said. “If I had told them,” he said, Germany would have “leaked” it, potentially jeopardizing the military operation.

Trump also criticized the democratic governments of Japan, South Korea and Australia for not doing more to support the war effort.

He suggested that his break with NATO allies arose from his failed attempt to acquire Greenland, a territory of Denmark.

“It all started with Greenland,” Trump said. “They didn’t want to give it to us and I said, ‘Goodbye.’

Trump’s exasperation was even more evident as he explained the dangers of the breach of secrecy that occurred when it was first reported that a second U.S. airman was stuck in Iran.

“All of a sudden they know there’s someone there,” he said of the Iranians. “They see all these planes coming in. It’s become a much more difficult operation because a leak revealed that we had one, we saved one, but there’s another one out there that we’re trying to get.”

He used a bounty as evidence that Iran was desperate to locate and arrest the airman.

“In fact, Iran issued a major notice – you all saw it – offering a very large reward to anyone who captures the pilot,” Trump said. “So on top of a very talented, very good, very evil hostile army, we had millions of people trying to get a reward, so when you add that in, we have to find this fugitive, because he’s a sick person.”