US President Trump makes statement at the White House: Iran could be destroyed in a single night

US President Donald Trump, in his statement regarding Iran, said, "The entire country could be destroyed in a single night, and that night could be tomorrow night."

Trump announced that a total of 176 military aircraft participated in the operations organized to rescue US pilots from Iran.

US President Donald Trump made statements at the White House regarding the ongoing tension in the Middle East.

Starting his remarks by saying, "We are gathered here today to celebrate the success of one of the largest, most complex, and most difficult combat search operations the military has ever conducted; I suppose you could also call it a search and rescue operation," here are the highlights from Trump's statement:

"We could have suffered 100 casualties. It was a truly difficult decision, but the US military never leaves its soldiers behind. 21 military aircraft entered enemy airspace and, of course, they came under fire. They were flying so low that the enemy could even use their rifles. However, low-altitude flight also had some advantages.

This operation lasted 7 hours, and during this time, we were exposed to heavy enemy fire. The crews of the aircraft took great risks and carried out the operation to save our soldiers. As a result, we successfully located the F-15 pilot and rescued him from enemy territory.

We evacuated our friends with a very good helicopter. It was a truly wonderful operation. When you look at the systems, the weapons and machines used were incredible. We took action very quickly; even a 2-3 second delay could have been fatal. Because in that short time, miles of distance are covered.

We carried out an extremely dangerous operation in territory controlled by the Revolutionary Guard. They encouraged the people in Iran to find our pilot. However, thanks to his training, our pilot managed to hide. They know how to avoid being caught constantly, and they need to move away from the point where they crashed because the enemy goes directly to the crash site.

The pilot was wounded, but despite this, he performed extraordinarily. He was a very skilled and brave soldier. He cauterized his own wounds and transmitted his location to us. They carry highly advanced devices for such missions, and they ensure they carry enough batteries. This saved his life and allowed us to launch the operation immediately.

The pilot continued to move through the mountainous terrain. He was an extremely difficult soldier to capture. In total, a large number of air assets were mobilized, including 55 aircraft and 9 refueling tankers. Most of these were for diversionary purposes. We directed them to seven different regions to draw the enemy's attention to different points. They were confused, unable to understand how many different groups there were.

While we were distracting them with aircraft directed to different points, we focused on the actual operation area. A total of 9 different aircraft were used, and some were sent 25 miles from the coast. An extremely precise and planned operation was carried out.

When we reached the actual area, we neutralized the elements that could pose a threat and left Iranian territory without suffering any casualties. The F-15 weapons officer managed to survive for about 48 hours. This was quite a long time; he was wounded and losing blood.

Some of the large aircraft used during the operation were quite old and required a lot of equipment to stay in the air. The sandy and wet nature of the terrain made takeoff difficult. For this reason, some aircraft got stuck in the sand. However, we had a plan B: lighter and faster aircraft were deployed.

We had to destroy the old aircraft. Because we did not want the equipment inside them to fall into the hands of the enemy. It could have taken hours to dismantle that equipment, so we destroyed the aircraft by blowing them up.

We sent three helicopters to the region. These helicopters made a huge contribution. Their condition was quite bad; their rotors and propellers were damaged. But incredibly, they were reassembled in less than 10 minutes. They were unloaded from the plane piece by piece and quickly reassembled. This was a great engineering and team success.

Work that would take others days was completed in minutes. This operation was both brilliant and extremely successful. The sandy ground was very bad, and taking off was almost impossible. The aircraft struggled because of this. The area was actually a farm, not a runway; but it served our purpose.

We also had an escape plan. If necessary, we were going to stay there for two days, which was quite risky in the middle of enemy territory. We were in one of the most dangerous regions of Iran. However, the teams moved very quickly; the aircraft arrived at 15-minute intervals, refueled, and left the region.

We watched the whole process, and it was truly impressive. The lack of a runway and the unsuitable ground made the escape difficult. But this cannot be explained by skill alone; it was almost an example of genius. Our team performed exceptionally well."

US Secretary of Defense Hegseth also said in his statement:

'Today, by order of President Trump, it will be the most intense bombardment since the first day of the war. Tomorrow will be even heavier. Iran has a choice. Make a smart choice. Trump is not playing games. Ask Soleimani, Maduro, Khamenei'"