New Delhi: Making a shocking claim, US President Donald Trump on Monday said there was likely a “mole” within the American government while speaking to reporters about the recent rescue of a US airman from Iran.
Speaking in the White House briefing room, he pointed out that the US administration was working “very hard to find that leaker”. He alleged that the unidentified person put at risk both the highly sensitive American rescue operation and the safety of the distressed weapons systems officer, who was rescued from Iranian territory days after his US F-15E was shot down over the country.
Trump also warned that legal action will be taken against the journalist who first reported that US forces were searching for the American air force officer if they don’t reveal their sources. The US President said: “The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say, and that doesn’t last long.”
What did Trump say
According to Trump, the second F-15 airman had been missing for hours, and Iran was unaware of it until a “mole” leaked the information to the media, and a search was carried out.
Trump pointed at a media report which revealed that US forces had rescued one F-15 crew member but were still searching for a second and this complicated the rescue operation by alerting Iran.
“We’re looking very hard to find that leaker. They basically said that we have one, and there’s somebody missing. Well, (Iran) didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information,” Trump said.
‘Give it up or go to jail’
Trump said US authorities would approach the media organisation that published the report and ask for revealing the identity of the source, warning of prosecution if it refused to comply. However, it was not immediately clear which news outlet he was referring to.
He said: “We have to find that leaker, because that’s a sick person. Probably didn’t realise the extent of how bad it was. I can’t imagine that the person did, but we’re going to find out. It’s national security, and the person who did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say — Give it up or go to jail.”
Trump said that after the report got published, Iran issued a public notice offering a bounty for the capture of the missing pilot, and it further complicated the search and rescue operation.