‘Muslim-sounding’ radio message from missing F-15 pilot sparks fears of Iranian trap, nearly jeopardizing rescue

President Donald Trump revealed that a brief radio message from the pilot of the downed F-15 initially sparked alarm in Washington, with officials fearing it could be an Iranian ploy to lure U.S. troops into a trap.“The things he said on the radio sounded like things a Muslim would say,” Trump told Axios on Sunday.“He said: ‘Power to God,'” Trump added. A U.S. defense official backed Trump’s version but clarified that the exact words used were “God is good.” Defense Minister Pete Hegseth also used the same phrase in X’s post.The US president added that people familiar with the official said he is deeply religious and the words fit his character. Axios quoted a defense official as saying: “The situation was not entirely clear at first, but we persevered and confirmed that he was alive and not captured. People who knew him said he was religious.”The United States conducted a high-risk rescue mission deep in Iran to rescue a downed F-15 pilot. Under cover of darkness, nearly 100 special operations troops were dispatched into the rugged terrain south of Tehran, over a 7,000-foot ridge to reach the injured weapons expert, who had been hiding in a crack in his sprained ankle. The pilot, trained in survival and evasion techniques, successfully established contact and verified his identity, while the CIA simultaneously conducted a deception campaign to mislead Iranian forces about his location.Trump called the mission one of the most “daring” rescue operations in U.S. history.