by WorldTribune Staff, April 7, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
President Donald Trump said the media report, based on leaked information, that only one of two U.S. military personnel missing after their plane was shot down over Iranian airspace had been rescued was reckless and put hundreds of U.S. troops, including elite SEAL Team 6 operators, in danger during the rescue operation deep inside Iranian territory.
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President Donald Trump said 'the person that did the story will go to jail' if the source of the leak is not revealed. / Video Image[/caption]
Trump said the information that one servicemember was still missing inside Iran was derived from classified information.
“We had millions of people trying to get an award,” Trump said in apparent reference to Iran’s offer of a reward for help in capturing the missing airman. “We have to find that leaker because that’s a sick person [who] probably didn’t realize the extent of how bad it was.”
“We’re gonna find out. It’s national security, and the person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say [who the source was] and that doesn’t last long, and I think everybody would understand it,” the president said.
Israel’s Channel 12 was credited by Military Times with being the first to report that a second American pilot was missing.
Channel 12 reporters Amit Segal and Barak Ravid — who also works for Axios — were among the earliest to post the information to Telegram and X, the New York Post reported.
Segal told The Post on Monday that he was unaware if he was the first to report the news, but pledged not to disclose who tipped him off.
On Tuesday, Segal denied being the first in a follow-up message to The Post, sending screenshots of messages posted to Telegram by Israel Hayom Daily’s Ariel Kahana and columnist Amir Oren of Israel’s Haaretz newspaper about 30 minutes before he and Ravid’s posts.
Other outlets — including the Washington Post, Reuters, CBS News — also ran stories quoting U.S. and Israeli officials and sources familiar shortly after.
A White House official confirmed to The New York Sun on Monday that an investigation had been opened into the leak.
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