BOUNTY on his head: How injured US colonel fooled IRGC and escaped

So happening today, President Trump is set to hold a press conference with top military officials on Iran amid emerging reports that a deal to end the conflict and reopen key shipping routes could be done as soon as today.

This comes as we learn brand new details on the commander in chief's busy Easter weekend after he personally ordered a historic rescue for two US airmen that were trapped in Iran after their jet went down. That involved over 100 special ops forces, dozens of aircraft, and a CIA deception campaign that sounds straight out of Hollywood.

The pilot of the jet was rescued on Friday before a complicated search and rescue mission was set off for the other service member on board. That second airman, the weapons systems officer, surviving more than 30 hours behind enemy lines, climbing more than 7,000 feet to hide in a mountain crevice as Tehran called for his capture. That's where the airman activated an

emergency beacon armed with only a pistol to defend himself. And we now know that while the crew member was being rescued, the U. S. Unleashed an arsenal to protect the extraction point, including drones, B one bombers and nearly £102,000 satellite guided bombs.

So President Trump telling the mission success posting quote, this brave warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountain of Iran being hunted down by our enemies who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his commander in chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, and fellow war fighters were monitoring his location

24 hours a day and diligently planning for his rescue.

The president adding, quote, "'This is the first time in military memory that two US pilots have been rescued separately, deep in enemy territory. We will never leave an American war fighter behind.

Chief foreign correspondent, Trey Yanks, joining us live from Israel with more on this daring and extraordinary mission. Hi, Trey.

Yeah, hey guys, good morning. I've been speaking with US and Israeli officials about this daring rescue operation over the weekend that's been described as one for the history books. Fox News learned that it was Saturday morning when the CIA was able to confirm this was the location and indeed the airman who was missing after that F-15 was shot down on Friday over

the skies of southwest Iran. The CIA was confirmed this was a deception campaign by the Iranians trying to lure in special forces and then attack them. But once they were able to use advanced capabilities and confirm this was the airman, the message was delivered to the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, the Joint Chiefs chairman and ultimately the president.

That's when I'm told President Trump made the decision to order this operation to rescue the airmen, and within 12 hours there were U.S. boots on the ground inside of Iran conducting this operation. I want to pull up this timeline here to show you just how intricate the details were as this was progressing over the weekend. Remember it was late Thursday night when the jet was shot down. Friday, the pilot of the F-15E was recovered

by special forces, but then there was that crew member, the weapons systems officer, who was evading capture inside of Iran for up to two days. And the Iranian regime was putting out an award of $60,000 for his capture, telling people to go to the area.

But he had activated that emergency beacon and he was hiding in a mountain ridge. We are told that's when that special operations force got the call Saturday morning to start sending planes to Iran and start this mission to rescue him. Now the president says that he was injured but again everyone made it out of Iranian territory unharmed when the operation was taking place.

And I'm told that the success of this had to do with a CIA deception campaign. A senior U.S. official telling me over the weekend that the CIA leaked through multiple sources that they were trying to move a valuable package out of the country through a maritime exfil. This was meant to draw the Iranian forces away from the area where the U.S. crew member

was located.

That deception campaign, I'm told, worked and they were able to conduct this mission and safely rescue the crew member. Now, the Wall Street Journal today is reporting the complex mission quickly ran into problems, officials said. As the U.S. redirected aircraft in the region to help with the mission, some planned targets, including missile launcher sites, were left untouched. That allowed the Iranians to fire more weapons than usual in recent days according to officials. The first attempt to rescue this airman actually had to be aborted. Two H-6 helicopters did take small arms fire from the ground and the crew members were wounded but they did safely

return to friendly airspace in Kuwait. Now guys again as this was taking place there were multiple moving parts here and I'm told the coordination was at such a high level that the president was directly involved each and every hour to ensure that this was a successful operation and what's important to note here is that the Pentagon had prepared contingency plans understanding that when you send more than a hundred special forces deep into Iranian enemy territory, things can go wrong.

But they were able to conduct these contingency plans in a way that allowed all of these special forces, along with the rescued crew member, to get out of harm's way. And again, we are told this is a historic operation. It has been described by both U.S. and Israeli officials as something that could not have been done by any other military than that of the United States.

I think, Trey, what's really remarkable, if you could speak to also, is the fact that they were able to go in just south of Isfahan, that nuclear area we struck during Midnight Hammer last summer. That's where they set up this temporary forward operating base, or FARP, a forward arming and refueling point on the ground. And they brought in two specialized C-130s to set it up.

But then even with the ability to do that, the C-130, one of the C-130s gets stuck in the sand. They have to alter the plan, ultimately having to destroy them before they ultimately get out.

Walk us through that part of it. Yeah, a source told me this operation speaks to the excellence of the US military and their ability to move and think on the fly. We understand that at least one US transport plane got stuck and had to be destroyed. They altered plans in real time and were able to get out of harm's way. You see this map here, this is the location in Southwest Iran. It is relatively deep inside of Iranian territory and just south of the city of Isfahan

where we know that the IRGC has military leadership, officials and also the infrastructure to launch attacks nearby. And that is part of the reason we are told that these Reaper drones were in the skies above this area and reports indicate that if any Iranian forces got close to the area where the rescue mission was going to be conducted, that immediately strikes took place. And I'm told by a senior U.S. official, there was a lot at stake here. And the official went on to say, we've seen before what they do with prisoners.

We were going to expand every single effort to make sure we got to him first. And again, this speaks to the idea of no man left behind. As a guest earlier on Fox & Friends said, this is not a T-shirt or a slogan for the U.S. military. This is an operation, and this is the way that the U.S. military conducts themselves. If there is one of their own left behind enemy lines, they will go and spare no expense to ensure that that crew member or that colleague gets home safely.

And that's exactly what we saw over the weekend. And again, these exclusive details that Fox News learned over the weekend. It was Saturday morning when the CIA was able to confirm this was indeed the U.S. airman. This was not an Iranian trick to try and lure in U.S. forces. Immediately, the secretary of war, the joint chiefs chairman, and ultimately the president were made aware by the CIA and it was the commander in chief himself that ordered this operation, a successful operation,

to bring home this US service member.

You know, Trey, I know you've been working the phones over the weekend, talking with sources. One source told me that it got scrappy at the end. One of the key details was them confirming that it was him. And he said something over the airways where they weren't sure if it was him and he said something over the airways where they weren't sure if

it was him or not. What did he say?

He said God is good. He's a religious man. And according to reports, his fellow pilots and weapons service officers knew it was him because of this statement, because they said he's a religious man. He is someone who believes in God and someone who on this Easter weekend knew that he was going to be rescued. There is an understanding. There is a protocol when pilots or crew members are shot down.

They practice and they train for this. And despite the fact reports indicate he only had a sidearm on him, he had faith that the U.S. military was going to get there and deliver. And I spoke with President Trump over the weekend, and he gave so much credit to the U.S. generals. You could tell that the president believes in his military commanders and knew that if

he ordered this operation into enemy territory, that they could get the mission done despite the challenges that they faced. And that's exactly what happened. And despite the fact that this weapons service officer was injured, according to the president, he is expected to make a recovery and he was able to get rescued by his colleagues who went deep into enemy territory in the dark of night in

southwest Iran and conducted this high-risk operation.

Trey, how are we able to pull it off without without any anyone being killed or them being able to detect where we are in Iran because I know we can detect where their leadership is. We were able to take out their Israel was be able to detect where we are in Iran. Because I know we can detect where their leadership is. We were able to take out, or Israel was, be able to take out the Ayatollah, a lot of the leadership. And so we're able, when they move,

to see where they're going. And that's why they're in bunkers, so that's why they don't come out or they're in hiding. But when we're there on their property How are they able, how are we able to go in and get out without being detected?

It's a great question and I asked Israeli officials about this and a very high ranking official told me the credit goes to the U.S. military. It is an excellent force, this source said, and the ability for the United States to conduct over the horizon operations and then ultimately get in ground forces, more than 100 special forces, it is unprecedented. And this operation broadly went as planned with the contingencies, understanding that

there are difficult challenges that can be faced inside of enemy territory. We should note something else here, though, that we heard over the weekend from top IRGC officials who tried to come out and say after this successful operation that they have control over the skies of Iran. And that is not true. The fact that the United States can get in more than 100 special forces, back up aircraft

and locate a crew member with advanced capabilities from the CIA to ensure that this was indeed the man they were looking for and it wasn't an Iranian trap. Again, it speaks to the coordination between the U.S. military and the U.S. intelligence apparatus to get something like this done. Again, the spycraft behind the scenes. I have talked with not only the president over the weekend, but very senior US officials who described this operation as historic and

unprecedented because of the coordination that had to take place in southwest Iran. You see this map here where it took place south of the city of Isfahan. Again, a place that the Iranian regime had prepared military infrastructure, not just to battle US forces, but also to protect key infrastructure sites, including part of their nuclear program.

So again, the ability of the United States to send in special forces illustrates the fact that the Iranian regime does not have control over the skies of their country, and that when needed, the United States can operate freely to conduct missions like the one that we saw over the weekend.

That's right.

Great job. Great job laying that out.

Great job to our special forces. I mean, they're incredible to go in and get this individual out.

And our PJs, our pararescue men, who ultimately were the PJs that reached him, the difficulty of the terrain they got to him in, and the fact that he was able, while injured, was able to climb 7,000 feet based on his survival and evasion training, which is the rule one of SEER training is get far, get high.

Right, you gotta get away from the wreck because they're gonna get to that, and you gotta get high enough to get that beacon out. He did it it is an Easter miracle in every sense of the word and I believe the propaganda they thought they had victory because they got lucky and striking one aircrafts but both of our pilots survive right. And

they're there to tell the story as well absolutely absolutely

a great Easter miracle lots to be thankful for this morning. All right, let's go to Alexandria Hoff at the White House ahead of the president's press briefing today. Hey Alexandria.

Hey good to be with you expect to ahead of the president's press briefing today. Hey, Alexandria. Hey, good to be with you. Yeah, we expect to hear from the president more about his role in authorizing the multifaceted operation to get both of these airmen out. Of course, the second being more complex. The president tipping his hat to everybody involved, the quick thinking of his commanders. But he was involved in every level of this. I mean, from the CIA information plan that they have to put out that misinformation about

the second airman being taken out by vehicle, when in fact he was still there, to the hardware being destroyed so that it would not fall into the hands of the Iranians. So we're going to hear more from the president today at 1 p.m. This is going to be held in the briefing room because of all of the interest from the media. So many questions that many have. It would surprise you how many people can fit inside that smallest room when the president is at the podium. But that is what we are going to see this afternoon.

So looking back at last week, it looks like Wednesday evening was the last time that we had seen the president speak publicly. He had those public remarks. And also on Truth Social this weekend, if you look, I mean, he was unusually quiet. All of that strategic silence in order to protect this mission at hand. What began late last week is Iran feeling like they have achieved something in shooting down that U.S. jet. That feeling for them has been reduced to disgrace, with the president saying that the U.S. has once again proven overwhelming air

dominance and superiority. He wrote on Truth Social this quote, this is a moment that all Americans Republican, Democrat and everyone else should be proud of and united around. We truly have the best most professional and lethal military in the history of the world. We're gonna listen to Senator Dave McCormick right now. He's going to speak about the strength shown all around. Listen.

This guy, this airman was an absolute hero. He climbed 7,000 feet. When the planners were trying to identify where he was, they couldn't imagine that he was both injured and was able to get to that point where he could eventually be rescued.

So a remarkable operation that only America, only the American military and the American intel community could pull off.

So Reuters is reporting that Iran and the U.S. have received a plan to end hostilities. This is a framework that was put together by Pakistan. It reportedly includes an immediate ceasefire, followed by a comprehensive agreement. The White House, they're telling Fox this morning that the president has not signed off on this and that Operation Epic Fury continues. Of course all the success of this mission over the weekend came with a renewed warning from the president that bridges and power plants will be

targeted tomorrow if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened. Guys. 8 p.m. Eastern

time he said. Yep. All right. He's bluffing. Nope, he's not. time he said. Yep. All right. He's bluffing. Nope, he's not.

Alex, thank you very much.