President Trump says US will target Iranian infrastructure on Tuesday
President Trump told Iran that the United States would attack Iranian infrastructure, after weeks of threatening to attack Iran if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump said in an interview with Axios on Sunday, April 5, that it was “lucky” that Iranian forces shot down the F-15E Strike Eagle, and that U.S. officials first suspected that communications from the plane’s crew stranded in Iran were a trap.
President Trump told the media that the United States was “beeping” about the stranded crew, which he said had been recovered on April 4. Officials added that they feared the crew had been captured and that Iran had set a trap using radio messages.
An anonymous defense official told Axios that the radio message from the weapons official was “God is good,” which Trump described as “something a Muslim would say.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a prominent Christian, used the phrase in an April 5 post. Trump added that people who knew the officer said he was religious and it made sense for him to say those words.
USA TODAY asked the Pentagon to confirm the radio message.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) said on “Fox News Sunday,” citing conversations with Trump administration officials, that the rescued pilot climbed about 7,000 feet into the mountain to reach the evacuation point.
A U.S. official told Reuters the operation involved dozens of military aircraft and was met with stiff resistance from Iranian forces.
Iran said several U.S. military aircraft were destroyed during the rescue operation, including two military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters. Footage posted on social media showed the charred remains of the plane, which Reuters confirmed was nearby.
The Pentagon did not confirm or deny the report when USA TODAY previously requested comment.
Anonymous Israeli officials told Axios that the country’s air force provided the strikes to prevent Iranian forces from reaching the region. President Trump called the country a “good partner” in an interview with the media.
“They were great, brave people. We are like brother and brother,” Trump said.
The F-15E crashed over Iran on April 3. One crew member was quickly recovered. A second crew member, described by President Trump as a “respected colonel” in a social media post, was injured but survived for more than 24 hours after being shot down.
Trump said officials feared the trap was similar to the double-tap attack that Iran has accused the United States of engaging in during the war, in which an initial attack hits the intended target and a second, larger attack is launched against those who arrive to respond or assist.
In a March 11 social media post, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai claimed that the attack on a girls’ school early in the war was a double tap, calling it a “terrible war crime.” Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reported that the April 2 strike on the bridge connecting Iran’s capital Tehran and the western city of Karaj was a double tap.
President Trump said in an April 5 interview with the Wall Street Journal that the United States would destroy all Iranian power plants and bridges if the Iranian government did not come to the negotiating table or reopen the Strait of Hormuz. On the same day, President Trump posted a profanity-laced threat on social media, giving Iran a deadline of Tuesday.
President Trump’s Easter threat follows threats to attack desalination facilities, which some international law experts say could violate international humanitarian law.
Contributed by: Reuters
