President Donald Trump took to social media on Easter Sunday to applaud the U.S. military’s rescue of the second airman whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran – and to issue an expletive-laden threat against the Middle Eastern nation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
After extending the deadline on his ultimatum that Iran cease its effective blockade on ships passing through the oil route, the president said the regime now has until Tuesday to meet his demands, threatening strikes on critical Iranian infrastructure.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump wrote in the April 5 post on Truth Social. “Open the F—— Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” The president signed off his message to the country “Praise be to Allah.”
The United States and Israel have intensified pressure on Iran over the weekend to open the Strait of Hormuz, which usually carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, or face attacks on energy facilities.
In a separate post shared minutes earlier, the president said he will hold a news conference from the Oval Office with the U.S. military at 1 p.m. ET on Monday.
Kathryn Palmer
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards told the Tasnim news agency that several U.S. aircraft were destroyed during the weekend rescue mission. The outlet is closely affiliated with the guards.
Iranian officials said a C-130 military transport plane and two Black Hawk helicopters were among the downed craft, according to Reuters.
The Pentagon did not confirm or deny the reports when contacted by USA TODAY for comment, instead referring to the president’s initial social media post early April 5 announcing the second airman’s rescue. Trump said that no U.S. forces were killed or injured in the retrieval operation that included “dozens” of aircraft.
Kathryn Palmer
The second service member rescued by U.S. Special Operations forces who had spent two days inside Iranian territory is “seriously wounded,” Trump said Sunday.
In an update to the operation to retrieve two airmen after their F-15E fighter jet was downed over Iran, the president said in a social media post that the colonel was rescued after the Iranian military had been “looking hard” for the airman.
He added that Iranian forces had been searching “in big numbers” and had been “getting close.”
The operation to find and extract the second service member involved dozens of aircraft, the president said, and there were no U.S. casualties among the rescue team. The fighter jet’s other crew member was quickly recovered shortly after it went down.