President Donald Trump touted the "historic" rescue of the downed F-15E airmen behind enemy lines and issued a warning to Iran to make a deal before Tuesday night's 8 p.m. ET deadline or face being "taken out."
"This is a rescue that's very historic," Trump told the White House press corps in a Monday news conference. "It'll go down to the books."
"Late Thursday night, an American F-15 fighter jet went down deep inside enemy territory in Iran while participating in Operation Epic Fury, where we're doing unbelievably well. Well, at a level that nobody's ever seen before."
Trump quickly paused his hailing of the rescue to add a warning for Iran to come to peace.
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"The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night," Trump said.
Trump continued to press Iran to come to a peace deal, hours after saying the offers thus far are "not enough," and War Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed the heaviest bombing of Iran to date.
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"By the way, per the president's direction, [Monday] will be the largest volume of strikes since day one of this operation," Hegseth vowed, taking the mic just before Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan "Raizin'" Caine.
"Tomorrow, even more than today. And then Iran has a choice," Hegseth added. "Choose wisely, because this president does not play around. You can ask Soleimani, you can ask Maduro. You can ask Khamenei."
Trump, responding to a question from Fox News, noted there were military leaders warning against the dangerous exfiltration of the two airmen, citing the risks to a multitude of troops.
"There were military people, very professional, that preferred not doing it: These two were totally on board, which was very important," Trump said, noting Hegseth and Gen. Caine.
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"But, no, there were military people that said, 'You just don't do this; you don't go into the heart of a very powerful military."
Trump noted that "half the people are wearing uniforms" in Iran, exacerbating the challenges of extracting the American airmen.
"I was surprised somebody said it's the only time it's ever been done," Trump continued. "I said, that's not possible, but it is possible because you're going into hundreds of thousands of soldiers along the path. I mean, look at some of the helicopters, how they got hit."
Trump, in a moment that went from serious to lighter, asked Caine "how many" people conducted the rescue.
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"I'd love to keep that a secret," Caine shot back.
"I'll keep it a secret, but it was hundreds and hundreds of these people," Trump said.
"Hundreds of people went into this journey. Hundreds of people could have been killed. Forget about the equipment. A lot of equipment. Nobody cares of it. Hundreds of people could have been killed," Trump added.
"So we had people that were within the military that said, 'This is not a wise move,'" Trump said.
"And I understood that, but I decided to do it."
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For now, Tuesday night's 8 p.m. ET deadline looms for Iran to make a deal to Trump's satisfaction.
"I can't talk about ceasefire, but I can tell you that we have an active, willing participant on the other side," Trump said, acknowledging Iran has been "excellent negotiators" because they have been able to delay peace for decades. "They would like to be able to make a deal. I can't say any more than that."
"I can tell you they're negotiating, we think, in good faith," Trump said. "We're going to find out. We're getting the help of some incredible countries that want this to be ended, because it affects them.
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The "plan," short of an imminent peace deal, Trump expounded, would be devastating for a country that would require a century to rebuild.
"We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again," Trump vowed. "I mean, complete demolition by 12, and it'll happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to. "We don't want that to happen."
"So do I want to do that? No. Do I want to destroy their infrastructure? No," Trump concluded. "It will take them 100 years to rebuild. Right now, if we left today, it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country. And it would never be as good as it was. And the only way they're going to be able to rebuild their country is to utilize the genius of the United States of America."
