Trump Refuses to Disclose What America Will Do if the Missing Pilot in Iran is Harmed

SadaNews - While U.S. forces are searching for a crew member of the "F-15E" aircraft, who was forced to parachute after it was shot down over Iran, President Donald Trump does not seem ready yet to announce what the United States will do if the missing crew member is harmed.

In a brief phone interview with "The Independent" late Friday - Saturday, Trump responded to a question about what he would do if the pilots were captured or harmed by the Iranians: "Well, I can’t comment on that because we hope that doesn’t happen."

For its part, NBC News reported that Trump said that the shooting down of an American fighter jet will not affect negotiations with Iran regarding the ongoing war that has lasted for over a month.

U.S. forces rescued one pilot of a fighter jet that crashed in Iran, while search operations for the other are ongoing, according to U.S. media reports on Friday.

Iranian media broadcast footage of the plane's wreckage, while authorities offered a financial reward for anyone who could capture the "American pilot or pilots," according to state television, as reported by Agence France-Presse.

Axios and CBS News reported, citing unnamed sources, that one of the pilots was already rescued by U.S. special forces, while search operations for the other are still underway.

According to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the aircraft is an "F-15E" model, which is a fighter jet carrying a pilot and a weapons systems officer sitting in the back seat.