"It was not completely clear early on, but we stuck with it and verified he was alive and not captured. And those who knew him said he is religious," a defense official said.

They have been good partners. They have been great and brave people.

We are like a big brother and little brother.

The rescue was an Easter Miracle.

The enemy was large and violent. The rescuers were brilliant, strong, decisive, and as cool as anyone can be.

The Iranians thought they had him, but it wasn't even close, and remember, we got two, but couldn't talk about the first in that it would have highlighted that there was a second.

Such a rescue has never happened before in so violent an enemy territory. It is usually not done because it is considered not doable. Such a great military — like no other.

If a deal happens, it happens.

And if it doesn't, we're blowing up the whole country.

It should be wrapped up in days because no sane group of people could stand the punishment that's going to rain down on them if it's not.

There could be a deal, and there could also not be a deal.

I don't know. I have no idea with these people, they're getting the shit beat out of them, and that's, that's all I can tell you.

There's been no country that's ever taken a pounding like that.

This was a test for NATO, I didn't need them, but I wanted to test them.

They're a paper tiger. Paper Tiger. They have no ships. They have no nothing, and Putin has zero fear of them.

If they don't want to make a deal — their whole country is gone.

If they don’t come through… they’re going to lose every power plant and every other plant in the whole country.

If they don’t do something by Tuesday evening, they won’t have any power plants and they won’t have any bridges standing.

That country will take 20 years to rebuild, if they’re lucky. If they have a country.

Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!

Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands.

Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes.

The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game.

On April 4, U.S. forces successfully completed the rescues of two American service members from Iran after their F-15E fighter jet was shot down April 2 during a combat mission.

The service members were safely recovered during separate search and rescue missions.

U.S. strikes into Iran continue as U.S. Central Command forces dismantle the Iranian regime’s ability to project power beyond its borders.