April 4, 2026
Desperate Search: Both Iran and U.S. Race To Find Missing U.S. Airman
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RSS Feed After Iran shot down an American F-15 fighter jet on Friday, one airman was rescued, but the other remains missing. We have the latest on the efforts from both Iran and the U.S to try and locate the crew member, where the crash site was located, and how each airman is taught and trained how to survive situations just like this one. While there is a reward for the missing American, Iranian officials are urging civilians to capture the airman “alive.”
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00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hey there everybody. It is Saturday, April fourth, and we still do not know the fate nor whereabouts of a US service member shot down in Iran yesterday. With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Wanted to give you a quick update on what we've been seeing in Iran. And all eyes robes, all thoughts, all efforts right now really are about finding this missing US service member.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: Yes, there is literally a race to find this airmen. We know that one missing crew member was immediately rescued or with relatively quickly was rescued within Iran after that F fifteen fighter jet was shot down by Iranian missiles, and so yes, this other airman is.
00:00:50
Speaker 3: Now somewhere unknown.
00:00:53
Speaker 2: There has been a massive effort to try and find this airman there. It's believed to have crashed in a mountain region. This is near the borders of Kuwait in Irq. It's described as basically southern Iran. But it's pretty difficult to rain and so there's a lot to try and figure out. But there are systems in place the military, the Air Force prepares for situations, scary situations just like this, and certainly a tremendous amount of effort has been going on behind the scenes over the past several hours.
00:01:24
Speaker 1: And this is not the first time that an F eighteen fighter has gone down in this war with Iran, but it's the first time one's been shot down by Iran. If a lot of people will remember ropes, I think it might have been the first week even that we had three F fifteen e's go down with friendly fire. I think a lot of people might.
00:01:44
Speaker 3: Remember that, yeah, in Kuwait.
00:01:46
Speaker 2: So yes, this marks the first time a US aircraft, a fighter jet, has been taken down by enemy fire and has crashed in enemy territory. So right now we know that these aircraft, these F fifteen's, have emergedency locator beacons, so that beams up to a satellite immediately following a crash, or even a pilot ejects so that planes helicopters can pinpoint the exact location where the crash happened. Now we've seen pieces of this crash site and pieces of this fighter jet on social media because Iranians have already found some of the records. So people know the US knows and Iran knows where that aircraft crashed.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: They know exactly almost where that plane went down. They have obviously systems upon systems and redundancies to make sure of these things. But this pilot, these still excuse me, the pilot and the crew member. And to give you an idea what we talked about here, folks, just think the original top Gun Maverick and Goose. This is the type of scenario we're talking about in the plane we're talking about. This is a fifteen e latest generation of these fighters. But you have a pilot and you have a crew member sitting in the back of weapon specialist. Now it's my understanding, Rope, it's the pilot who has been recovered, and it's the service of the weapon special still out there.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: Yes, that is what Actually, the BBC specifically referenced that the missing airment is in fact a weapons system officer and the pilot was the one who was rescued pretty quickly after the crash happened.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: And so we are talking about this one fighter jet that went down. But we do need to mention here that before we get into more details about this rescue and recovery, that there was another that was a part of the rescue and recovery that went down as well. So robed yesterday Essentially, two US military aircraft were shut shot down by Iran and shot down robes days after the President and Hexseth told us iron essentially didn't have the ability to do this.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: Yes, both the President and Hexeth told us it was pretty much impossible for what happened on Friday to have happened.
00:03:45
Speaker 3: And yes, they shot down an A ten Warthog correct.
00:03:47
Speaker 2: So this is one of the big planes that is used oftentimes in aiding a.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: Fighter jet or even a helicopter.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: They go in tandem oftentimes to make sure to protect and to provide cover for some of these operations that are going on.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: But it too was shot down.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: Thankfully both of those or it was actually one pilot correct in that he was able to eject safely and the plane crashed in Kuwait, I believe.
00:04:11
Speaker 3: So the good news is.
00:04:13
Speaker 2: Even though we lost another plane, which is fairly humiliating given what the rhetoric has been coming out of the White House, but right now just one missing airman and that search is just frantically underway right now.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: It's hard to I mean, look, we've seen around on a map. Overwhelmingly most of us have not been there, but it's hard to understand what we think about the size of this country. It is more than double the size of Texas, is what we're talking about, and it's not as populous in many areas as Texas. It is more than twice the size of Texas. He's trying to get it is about the size of Alaska. But to being quite honest with you, it's hard for me to get my head around how large Alaska is because we don't, that's true, pay attention to it that often. Quite frankly, no offense to weal asking. But there's just another place a lot of us haven't been to. But just trying to give an idea of the scale, just how big this place is that right now, Robes, there's everybody knows where the plane went down. Now you have US forces and Iranian forces all coming and converging on this one area, trying to find this one US service member. This is a Yes, it's war, but Robes, this is stuff we're only used to seeing in movies. That's exactly what's playing out. Literally, the movie is called Behind Enemy Lines, was it not? With Owen Wilson. I mean, even in the last Tom Cruise movie, the Maverick movie went down behind enemy line. We've seen this scenario. That thing that is dramatized in movies is happening on the ground in Iran right now. And there's a US service member scrambling and trying to balance not being captured but also letting Americans know where they might be. This is and this is a high stakes search going on right now.
00:06:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just gave me chills thinking about that scenario, because yes, most of us picture a movie in our minds, but this is happening right now. And look, these Air Force pilots and the technicians with them train and prepare for this.
00:06:14
Speaker 3: They receive mandatory training.
00:06:16
Speaker 2: It's called sir s er and it's survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. And so they take this training, they say, repeatedly, periodically, but especially before they.
00:06:27
Speaker 3: Head out on missions like this one.
00:06:29
Speaker 2: So this airman has been trained sere Sorry sir, what did I say.
00:06:35
Speaker 1: It's spelled s E r E.
00:06:36
Speaker 2: Yes, it's pronounced sorry I said sair here.
00:06:42
Speaker 3: But yes, this is the training that they receive.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: So the hope is that this airman, who is out there on his own right now, knows exactly what to do to stay alive and to not get captured.
00:06:52
Speaker 3: And look, this is interesting.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: We are not hearing anything from the Pentagon, from Pete Hegseth, from the President specifically about what's going on, But a lot of folks in the military do know what happens after a crash like this, and when there is a crew member missing. Right now, they call it Operation Personnel Recovery Response, it begins and para rescue men known as pj's step in. We're not getting official word that this is happening, but the likelihood that you've got basically low level, low level helicopters trying to fly and scan over the area, including some they said they've seen some C.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: One thirties flying above as well.
00:07:33
Speaker 2: Look, they are trying to find where this airman might be, but they're also now knowing that Iran clearly has the capability of bringing down those planes and returning fire to those planes.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: So this is a very dangerous and delicate operation.
00:07:47
Speaker 1: So you have to put more service members, you have to put more equipment in danger to go get one out of danger, and they are putting everything into this. You hear that sometimes nobody left behind. This is ever, it's not just a matter of bringing somebody home and bringing somebody home safely and preserving that American life. But what's at stake now is what if what if this service member is captured by Iran? If the service member is already captured by Iran, robes and yeah, those are the scenarios the analysts will tell you. If this person is captured by Iran, they could tell the world, or they could not tell the world. If they don't tell the world, that means they're using it secretly and behind the scenes and negotiations to really try to get something out of it. The other scenario, most people will tell you, nah, that ain't Iran. What they love doing is humiliating the United States and they would love nothing more than to try to embarrass the United States and specifically Donald Trump by saying, look, we got you, gad and using that as whatever tactic to get what they want. This is what, quite frankly, a lot of people will tell you robes. Iran does well and has in its history and is a big part of it getting what it wants hostages.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: And that is what when you think about Iran, at least growing up in the seventies and eighties, you heard about the Iran hostage crisis.
00:09:11
Speaker 3: That was what we heard all the time.
00:09:13
Speaker 2: I didn't I was old enough to really know all of the ins and outs of what happened there. But when I think of Iran, I think of hostage. I mean that is just the two go together based on how we came up and what the news was and certainly the situation back then.
00:09:25
Speaker 3: So they know how to do this.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: And look, Iran has told civilians to be on the lookout for this airmen. They are urging citizens to find the service member alive, offering a reward.
00:09:39
Speaker 3: For the capture of the service members sixty around sixty five thousand dollars US dollars.
00:09:44
Speaker 2: But they have, as you mentioned, been absolutely doing their best to humiliate the United States on social media already, even without having captured this hostage.
00:09:55
Speaker 1: As we think about this awful Iranian regime, and then it kind of flying in the face of seeing them post tweets with sad face emojis. I mean, they know how to use social media and they are not shy about using it, and frankly, a lot of the land it looks almost some times like our president took lessons from them in social media usage. With some of the language they use and how you talk and say things you can't prove and insult other folks. So it's interesting to see someone who's the head of the Iranian parliament posting things with little emojis.
00:10:30
Speaker 3: On it like haha. Basically back at the United States, well, when we come back, we will tell you what we have heard from the White House.
00:10:36
Speaker 2: As we mentioned, it's not been much, but certainly important information coming from the President after this F fifteen fighter jet was shot down and a member of the US military missing.
00:10:58
Speaker 1: Are folks we continue here on this Saturday, April fourth, what is it six weeks now, we're.
00:11:03
Speaker 3: Going into the six weeks, going into sixth week, six.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: Week of the war, and really the story out of the war today and what we should mention that strikes do continue. Iran continues to strike, Israel continues to strike. All that stuff seems to be going on. No, not at the same clip as it was maybe days ago, but certainly the war is still on. But the highlight right now, I say highlight in terms of headline. The biggest headline right now is a US service member still missing, unaccounted for, fate unknown, at least publicly in Iran after being shot down that if fifteen E fighter jet rogues, it's I guess it's a little telling that we're not hearing a lot.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just going to ask you what you thought your thoughts about not hearing anything from the Pentagon, not hearing anything from our Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, not hearing much. We'll get into what the President did say, but only after being asked not hearing anything, No asking of prayers, no asking of support, nothing, no real acknowledgment of what's going on.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: They're in Iran, and we know it is urgent.
00:12:09
Speaker 2: We know this is the most important thing going on right now, the most important thing being discussed and talked about right now at the Pataga.
00:12:17
Speaker 1: And maybe this is the appropriate thing is to shut up and to go do the work, and go bring this service member home. And don't mess it up by opening your mouth, don't mess it up by sending out a nasty, true social post, don't make anything worse. This is everything now. I think there is concern obviously for the life of this service member, but they have to keep in mind as well robes the American public. Now you talk about a tolerance for war and gas prices and whatever else. If you're telling me, we got to see an American service member from whatever state, from whatever community that everybody knows and loves, and you you have to think about the possibility of messing it up and having this turn into a much bigger pr headache for the White House. No, I at this point where OBEs I kind of yes, we always want information because we're in the news business. I don't mind you being as quiet as you need to to make sure this situation gets handles.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: And that does make a lot of sense. But it is interesting because the President. The reason why this is all the more difficult and disturbing because the President, because heg Sath, have been so overt in talking about how we've obliterated the abilities and the capabilities of Iranians from doing anything like what we saw happened yesterday.
00:13:38
Speaker 1: Do you have that line you had it yesterday? That was a quote you had You might remember your head, but it was it was direct saying I think it was the president they can't, they don't have the ability. It wasn't just kind of hedge and bet. They were very definitive in language. They say they do not have this type of capability.
00:13:53
Speaker 3: Correct, They said we owned the skies, We owned the skies.
00:13:57
Speaker 2: Over Iran, that we had obliterated all of their capabilities of.
00:14:02
Speaker 3: Doing us an, that we basically could come and go as we please.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Well, I mean that goes along the line. There's been criticism from all corners that were being told one thing and it doesn't it flies in the face of reality. Or we're hearing this thing from one member of the administration, then this thing from another. When you tell us definitively that this essentially is not possible, and then in one day, two planes shot down, two pilots eject and parachute down, and another service member is missing. We go, wait a minute, I thought this was all going our way. They couldn't touch us. So you ask, now, what other capability do they have that we don't know about exactly?
00:14:43
Speaker 2: And there was already distrust from the messaging that we were getting from this administration as to what was going on in Iran versus what even Iranian leadership was managing to put out on social media saying, yet we're not negotiating, Nope, that isn't happening.
00:14:58
Speaker 3: Nope, we're all good still. So it's been this war of words. But you know what that does.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: You know, you've mentioned that it this lends less credibility to the things that continue to come out of the administration. You just yeah, you So you listen to Iranian saying this and saying, well, no negotiations are not going place. Our side is saying yes they are, and then you stop and they go, well should I believe who side? Because my side told me this thing as well and that turned out not to be true.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: Wow, this is so I actually this is that is so true and this is a deeper, bigger issue for this administration because of what you just said.
00:15:34
Speaker 3: I actually have the dates and the quotes.
00:15:36
Speaker 2: So at March okay, oh my goodness, exactly a month ago, March fourth, Pete Hegseth said, starting last night and to be completed in a few days, in under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian sky's uncontested airspace, and Iran will be able to do nothing about it. And we literally have planes flying up for Tehran and other parts of their country and they can't do a thing about it. He said that on March twenty fourth, and then the president said they have no navy no military, no air force, and.
00:16:10
Speaker 3: No anti aircraft systems.
00:16:13
Speaker 1: That's it, no anti andcraft system that's the left line. I was thinking about it.
00:16:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is what he said. This is the address to the nation this week.
00:16:19
Speaker 2: They have no anti aircraft equipment, their radar is one hundred percent annihilated. We are an unstoppable as a military force. So when you say that the same week, and honestly, you're almost tempting or provoking Iranians to say, really, oh is that true?
00:16:36
Speaker 3: Watch us?
00:16:37
Speaker 1: And that might be something. They explained that this was a random, a one off somebody on the ground who got a lucky shot.
00:16:43
Speaker 3: But then they took down an A ten after that, So two two lucky shots.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: I mean, Okay, they'll find there will be a way, they'll explain it. Maybe there is some great explanation. All of that can come. But right now they have got to find this service. They have got to find this person before. This is a Hollywood movie scenario. Actually Hollywood gets it from real life. We're only used to seeing it in Hollywood. But this is what happens. This is as high stakes as it gets. There is an American running around in Iran somewhere trying to keep from being captured. And the fate of this war might lie in this person's ability to evade capture, because if Iran gets its hand, this could be a game changer in this war, if they were to get their hands on an American and highlight and embarrass and say, look at what we got. What are you going to do now? What are you going to do now?
00:17:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that is a big question.
00:17:37
Speaker 2: And look, the only thing we heard from the President about any of this is that he said, the downing of the F fifteen, the search and rescue operations for this airmen, and the fate of this airmen will not affect negotiations over a ceasefire with Iran.
00:17:54
Speaker 3: And that's all he said.
00:17:55
Speaker 2: That's all.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: Okay, that was my question. I'm like, that was the only comment I saw out there from NBC News, Right, that's all. And look, the President is not tight lipt oftentimes you don't have to try that hard to get a comment from him. He is being intentional with this. It takes me back to Venezuela. The lead up to the action in Venezuela, he got asked a bunch of questions and he was very careful in what he said, and he didn't say a whole lot, And that lends itself to Okay, something's going on, because otherwise he would be talking.
00:18:30
Speaker 3: Isn't that true?
00:18:31
Speaker 2: His silences speak louder than his natual words do oftentimes, and for his choice not to say anything beyond that, I think belies the seriousness of the situation.
00:18:41
Speaker 3: They understand what's at stake, and look.
00:18:43
Speaker 1: These are these are these? I said this to you all the time. Fighter pilots are these sexiest people on planet Earth. It's just their ability to do what they do. And to think that you are of such elite status that the US military doesn't mind handing you the keys to a thirty million A taxpayer paid for a vehicle to say here you go, we trust you. That is a big, big deal. So I have the utmost respect for these aviators and what they do. And now that training goes beyond the cockpit. It goes now to sear school, right, and all that training and how to evade and what to do out there robes and these vehicles. It's I know, money isn't the biggest thing. I say, a thirty million dollars vehicle, but rubes Kuwait.
00:19:25
Speaker 3: Shot three of the ether we've lost four of them.
00:19:27
Speaker 1: Now that's one hundred and twenty million dollar loss just falling out of the sky.
00:19:31
Speaker 3: This stuff is expensive.
00:19:33
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about the equipment, but we talk about the cost of war robes. A Kuwaiti mistake in shooting that was almost one hundred million dollar ooopsie in shooting those and we.
00:19:42
Speaker 2: Just thankfully our pilots know enough about how to eject in time to make sure that there was no loss of life on top of it.
00:19:49
Speaker 1: This is this is as high stakes as it gives. But please keep this. Whatever you think about the Iran war, everybody is your heart's and you're it's all.
00:20:01
Speaker 3: It's not a.
00:20:03
Speaker 1: Right now, it's you have this feeling of fighting right there's like I don't feel like a weight or a sadness necessarily, there is like a resolve to where okay, like you're rooting for right now, this person to get out. That's where a lot of us are right now and hoping to hear good words sooner than later.
00:20:23
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I felt my heart racing just thinking about this, thinking about this airman's family waiting for word about their safety, and certainly we are all praying for and hoping for the best in this situation. We will of course keep our eye on what's going on there in Iran and bring you any new developments in the meantime, though, thank you so much for listening to us, every one. I'm Amy Roboc alongside TJ. Holmes.
00:20:47
Speaker 3: We will talk to you soon
Speaker 1: Hey there everybody. It is Saturday, April fourth, and we still do not know the fate nor whereabouts of a US service member shot down in Iran yesterday. With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Wanted to give you a quick update on what we've been seeing in Iran. And all eyes robes, all thoughts, all efforts right now really are about finding this missing US service member.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: Yes, there is literally a race to find this airmen. We know that one missing crew member was immediately rescued or with relatively quickly was rescued within Iran after that F fifteen fighter jet was shot down by Iranian missiles, and so yes, this other airman is.
00:00:50
Speaker 3: Now somewhere unknown.
00:00:53
Speaker 2: There has been a massive effort to try and find this airman there. It's believed to have crashed in a mountain region. This is near the borders of Kuwait in Irq. It's described as basically southern Iran. But it's pretty difficult to rain and so there's a lot to try and figure out. But there are systems in place the military, the Air Force prepares for situations, scary situations just like this, and certainly a tremendous amount of effort has been going on behind the scenes over the past several hours.
00:01:24
Speaker 1: And this is not the first time that an F eighteen fighter has gone down in this war with Iran, but it's the first time one's been shot down by Iran. If a lot of people will remember ropes, I think it might have been the first week even that we had three F fifteen e's go down with friendly fire. I think a lot of people might.
00:01:44
Speaker 3: Remember that, yeah, in Kuwait.
00:01:46
Speaker 2: So yes, this marks the first time a US aircraft, a fighter jet, has been taken down by enemy fire and has crashed in enemy territory. So right now we know that these aircraft, these F fifteen's, have emergedency locator beacons, so that beams up to a satellite immediately following a crash, or even a pilot ejects so that planes helicopters can pinpoint the exact location where the crash happened. Now we've seen pieces of this crash site and pieces of this fighter jet on social media because Iranians have already found some of the records. So people know the US knows and Iran knows where that aircraft crashed.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: They know exactly almost where that plane went down. They have obviously systems upon systems and redundancies to make sure of these things. But this pilot, these still excuse me, the pilot and the crew member. And to give you an idea what we talked about here, folks, just think the original top Gun Maverick and Goose. This is the type of scenario we're talking about in the plane we're talking about. This is a fifteen e latest generation of these fighters. But you have a pilot and you have a crew member sitting in the back of weapon specialist. Now it's my understanding, Rope, it's the pilot who has been recovered, and it's the service of the weapon special still out there.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: Yes, that is what Actually, the BBC specifically referenced that the missing airment is in fact a weapons system officer and the pilot was the one who was rescued pretty quickly after the crash happened.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: And so we are talking about this one fighter jet that went down. But we do need to mention here that before we get into more details about this rescue and recovery, that there was another that was a part of the rescue and recovery that went down as well. So robed yesterday Essentially, two US military aircraft were shut shot down by Iran and shot down robes days after the President and Hexseth told us iron essentially didn't have the ability to do this.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: Yes, both the President and Hexeth told us it was pretty much impossible for what happened on Friday to have happened.
00:03:45
Speaker 3: And yes, they shot down an A ten Warthog correct.
00:03:47
Speaker 2: So this is one of the big planes that is used oftentimes in aiding a.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: Fighter jet or even a helicopter.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: They go in tandem oftentimes to make sure to protect and to provide cover for some of these operations that are going on.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: But it too was shot down.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: Thankfully both of those or it was actually one pilot correct in that he was able to eject safely and the plane crashed in Kuwait, I believe.
00:04:11
Speaker 3: So the good news is.
00:04:13
Speaker 2: Even though we lost another plane, which is fairly humiliating given what the rhetoric has been coming out of the White House, but right now just one missing airman and that search is just frantically underway right now.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: It's hard to I mean, look, we've seen around on a map. Overwhelmingly most of us have not been there, but it's hard to understand what we think about the size of this country. It is more than double the size of Texas, is what we're talking about, and it's not as populous in many areas as Texas. It is more than twice the size of Texas. He's trying to get it is about the size of Alaska. But to being quite honest with you, it's hard for me to get my head around how large Alaska is because we don't, that's true, pay attention to it that often. Quite frankly, no offense to weal asking. But there's just another place a lot of us haven't been to. But just trying to give an idea of the scale, just how big this place is that right now, Robes, there's everybody knows where the plane went down. Now you have US forces and Iranian forces all coming and converging on this one area, trying to find this one US service member. This is a Yes, it's war, but Robes, this is stuff we're only used to seeing in movies. That's exactly what's playing out. Literally, the movie is called Behind Enemy Lines, was it not? With Owen Wilson. I mean, even in the last Tom Cruise movie, the Maverick movie went down behind enemy line. We've seen this scenario. That thing that is dramatized in movies is happening on the ground in Iran right now. And there's a US service member scrambling and trying to balance not being captured but also letting Americans know where they might be. This is and this is a high stakes search going on right now.
00:06:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just gave me chills thinking about that scenario, because yes, most of us picture a movie in our minds, but this is happening right now. And look, these Air Force pilots and the technicians with them train and prepare for this.
00:06:14
Speaker 3: They receive mandatory training.
00:06:16
Speaker 2: It's called sir s er and it's survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. And so they take this training, they say, repeatedly, periodically, but especially before they.
00:06:27
Speaker 3: Head out on missions like this one.
00:06:29
Speaker 2: So this airman has been trained sere Sorry sir, what did I say.
00:06:35
Speaker 1: It's spelled s E r E.
00:06:36
Speaker 2: Yes, it's pronounced sorry I said sair here.
00:06:42
Speaker 3: But yes, this is the training that they receive.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: So the hope is that this airman, who is out there on his own right now, knows exactly what to do to stay alive and to not get captured.
00:06:52
Speaker 3: And look, this is interesting.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: We are not hearing anything from the Pentagon, from Pete Hegseth, from the President specifically about what's going on, But a lot of folks in the military do know what happens after a crash like this, and when there is a crew member missing. Right now, they call it Operation Personnel Recovery Response, it begins and para rescue men known as pj's step in. We're not getting official word that this is happening, but the likelihood that you've got basically low level, low level helicopters trying to fly and scan over the area, including some they said they've seen some C.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: One thirties flying above as well.
00:07:33
Speaker 2: Look, they are trying to find where this airman might be, but they're also now knowing that Iran clearly has the capability of bringing down those planes and returning fire to those planes.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: So this is a very dangerous and delicate operation.
00:07:47
Speaker 1: So you have to put more service members, you have to put more equipment in danger to go get one out of danger, and they are putting everything into this. You hear that sometimes nobody left behind. This is ever, it's not just a matter of bringing somebody home and bringing somebody home safely and preserving that American life. But what's at stake now is what if what if this service member is captured by Iran? If the service member is already captured by Iran, robes and yeah, those are the scenarios the analysts will tell you. If this person is captured by Iran, they could tell the world, or they could not tell the world. If they don't tell the world, that means they're using it secretly and behind the scenes and negotiations to really try to get something out of it. The other scenario, most people will tell you, nah, that ain't Iran. What they love doing is humiliating the United States and they would love nothing more than to try to embarrass the United States and specifically Donald Trump by saying, look, we got you, gad and using that as whatever tactic to get what they want. This is what, quite frankly, a lot of people will tell you robes. Iran does well and has in its history and is a big part of it getting what it wants hostages.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: And that is what when you think about Iran, at least growing up in the seventies and eighties, you heard about the Iran hostage crisis.
00:09:11
Speaker 3: That was what we heard all the time.
00:09:13
Speaker 2: I didn't I was old enough to really know all of the ins and outs of what happened there. But when I think of Iran, I think of hostage. I mean that is just the two go together based on how we came up and what the news was and certainly the situation back then.
00:09:25
Speaker 3: So they know how to do this.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: And look, Iran has told civilians to be on the lookout for this airmen. They are urging citizens to find the service member alive, offering a reward.
00:09:39
Speaker 3: For the capture of the service members sixty around sixty five thousand dollars US dollars.
00:09:44
Speaker 2: But they have, as you mentioned, been absolutely doing their best to humiliate the United States on social media already, even without having captured this hostage.
00:09:55
Speaker 1: As we think about this awful Iranian regime, and then it kind of flying in the face of seeing them post tweets with sad face emojis. I mean, they know how to use social media and they are not shy about using it, and frankly, a lot of the land it looks almost some times like our president took lessons from them in social media usage. With some of the language they use and how you talk and say things you can't prove and insult other folks. So it's interesting to see someone who's the head of the Iranian parliament posting things with little emojis.
00:10:30
Speaker 3: On it like haha. Basically back at the United States, well, when we come back, we will tell you what we have heard from the White House.
00:10:36
Speaker 2: As we mentioned, it's not been much, but certainly important information coming from the President after this F fifteen fighter jet was shot down and a member of the US military missing.
00:10:58
Speaker 1: Are folks we continue here on this Saturday, April fourth, what is it six weeks now, we're.
00:11:03
Speaker 3: Going into the six weeks, going into sixth week, six.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: Week of the war, and really the story out of the war today and what we should mention that strikes do continue. Iran continues to strike, Israel continues to strike. All that stuff seems to be going on. No, not at the same clip as it was maybe days ago, but certainly the war is still on. But the highlight right now, I say highlight in terms of headline. The biggest headline right now is a US service member still missing, unaccounted for, fate unknown, at least publicly in Iran after being shot down that if fifteen E fighter jet rogues, it's I guess it's a little telling that we're not hearing a lot.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just going to ask you what you thought your thoughts about not hearing anything from the Pentagon, not hearing anything from our Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, not hearing much. We'll get into what the President did say, but only after being asked not hearing anything, No asking of prayers, no asking of support, nothing, no real acknowledgment of what's going on.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: They're in Iran, and we know it is urgent.
00:12:09
Speaker 2: We know this is the most important thing going on right now, the most important thing being discussed and talked about right now at the Pataga.
00:12:17
Speaker 1: And maybe this is the appropriate thing is to shut up and to go do the work, and go bring this service member home. And don't mess it up by opening your mouth, don't mess it up by sending out a nasty, true social post, don't make anything worse. This is everything now. I think there is concern obviously for the life of this service member, but they have to keep in mind as well robes the American public. Now you talk about a tolerance for war and gas prices and whatever else. If you're telling me, we got to see an American service member from whatever state, from whatever community that everybody knows and loves, and you you have to think about the possibility of messing it up and having this turn into a much bigger pr headache for the White House. No, I at this point where OBEs I kind of yes, we always want information because we're in the news business. I don't mind you being as quiet as you need to to make sure this situation gets handles.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: And that does make a lot of sense. But it is interesting because the President. The reason why this is all the more difficult and disturbing because the President, because heg Sath, have been so overt in talking about how we've obliterated the abilities and the capabilities of Iranians from doing anything like what we saw happened yesterday.
00:13:38
Speaker 1: Do you have that line you had it yesterday? That was a quote you had You might remember your head, but it was it was direct saying I think it was the president they can't, they don't have the ability. It wasn't just kind of hedge and bet. They were very definitive in language. They say they do not have this type of capability.
00:13:53
Speaker 3: Correct, They said we owned the skies, We owned the skies.
00:13:57
Speaker 2: Over Iran, that we had obliterated all of their capabilities of.
00:14:02
Speaker 3: Doing us an, that we basically could come and go as we please.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Well, I mean that goes along the line. There's been criticism from all corners that were being told one thing and it doesn't it flies in the face of reality. Or we're hearing this thing from one member of the administration, then this thing from another. When you tell us definitively that this essentially is not possible, and then in one day, two planes shot down, two pilots eject and parachute down, and another service member is missing. We go, wait a minute, I thought this was all going our way. They couldn't touch us. So you ask, now, what other capability do they have that we don't know about exactly?
00:14:43
Speaker 2: And there was already distrust from the messaging that we were getting from this administration as to what was going on in Iran versus what even Iranian leadership was managing to put out on social media saying, yet we're not negotiating, Nope, that isn't happening.
00:14:58
Speaker 3: Nope, we're all good still. So it's been this war of words. But you know what that does.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: You know, you've mentioned that it this lends less credibility to the things that continue to come out of the administration. You just yeah, you So you listen to Iranian saying this and saying, well, no negotiations are not going place. Our side is saying yes they are, and then you stop and they go, well should I believe who side? Because my side told me this thing as well and that turned out not to be true.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: Wow, this is so I actually this is that is so true and this is a deeper, bigger issue for this administration because of what you just said.
00:15:34
Speaker 3: I actually have the dates and the quotes.
00:15:36
Speaker 2: So at March okay, oh my goodness, exactly a month ago, March fourth, Pete Hegseth said, starting last night and to be completed in a few days, in under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian sky's uncontested airspace, and Iran will be able to do nothing about it. And we literally have planes flying up for Tehran and other parts of their country and they can't do a thing about it. He said that on March twenty fourth, and then the president said they have no navy no military, no air force, and.
00:16:10
Speaker 3: No anti aircraft systems.
00:16:13
Speaker 1: That's it, no anti andcraft system that's the left line. I was thinking about it.
00:16:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is what he said. This is the address to the nation this week.
00:16:19
Speaker 2: They have no anti aircraft equipment, their radar is one hundred percent annihilated. We are an unstoppable as a military force. So when you say that the same week, and honestly, you're almost tempting or provoking Iranians to say, really, oh is that true?
00:16:36
Speaker 3: Watch us?
00:16:37
Speaker 1: And that might be something. They explained that this was a random, a one off somebody on the ground who got a lucky shot.
00:16:43
Speaker 3: But then they took down an A ten after that, So two two lucky shots.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: I mean, Okay, they'll find there will be a way, they'll explain it. Maybe there is some great explanation. All of that can come. But right now they have got to find this service. They have got to find this person before. This is a Hollywood movie scenario. Actually Hollywood gets it from real life. We're only used to seeing it in Hollywood. But this is what happens. This is as high stakes as it gets. There is an American running around in Iran somewhere trying to keep from being captured. And the fate of this war might lie in this person's ability to evade capture, because if Iran gets its hand, this could be a game changer in this war, if they were to get their hands on an American and highlight and embarrass and say, look at what we got. What are you going to do now? What are you going to do now?
00:17:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that is a big question.
00:17:37
Speaker 2: And look, the only thing we heard from the President about any of this is that he said, the downing of the F fifteen, the search and rescue operations for this airmen, and the fate of this airmen will not affect negotiations over a ceasefire with Iran.
00:17:54
Speaker 3: And that's all he said.
00:17:55
Speaker 2: That's all.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: Okay, that was my question. I'm like, that was the only comment I saw out there from NBC News, Right, that's all. And look, the President is not tight lipt oftentimes you don't have to try that hard to get a comment from him. He is being intentional with this. It takes me back to Venezuela. The lead up to the action in Venezuela, he got asked a bunch of questions and he was very careful in what he said, and he didn't say a whole lot, And that lends itself to Okay, something's going on, because otherwise he would be talking.
00:18:30
Speaker 3: Isn't that true?
00:18:31
Speaker 2: His silences speak louder than his natual words do oftentimes, and for his choice not to say anything beyond that, I think belies the seriousness of the situation.
00:18:41
Speaker 3: They understand what's at stake, and look.
00:18:43
Speaker 1: These are these are these? I said this to you all the time. Fighter pilots are these sexiest people on planet Earth. It's just their ability to do what they do. And to think that you are of such elite status that the US military doesn't mind handing you the keys to a thirty million A taxpayer paid for a vehicle to say here you go, we trust you. That is a big, big deal. So I have the utmost respect for these aviators and what they do. And now that training goes beyond the cockpit. It goes now to sear school, right, and all that training and how to evade and what to do out there robes and these vehicles. It's I know, money isn't the biggest thing. I say, a thirty million dollars vehicle, but rubes Kuwait.
00:19:25
Speaker 3: Shot three of the ether we've lost four of them.
00:19:27
Speaker 1: Now that's one hundred and twenty million dollar loss just falling out of the sky.
00:19:31
Speaker 3: This stuff is expensive.
00:19:33
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about the equipment, but we talk about the cost of war robes. A Kuwaiti mistake in shooting that was almost one hundred million dollar ooopsie in shooting those and we.
00:19:42
Speaker 2: Just thankfully our pilots know enough about how to eject in time to make sure that there was no loss of life on top of it.
00:19:49
Speaker 1: This is this is as high stakes as it gives. But please keep this. Whatever you think about the Iran war, everybody is your heart's and you're it's all.
00:20:01
Speaker 3: It's not a.
00:20:03
Speaker 1: Right now, it's you have this feeling of fighting right there's like I don't feel like a weight or a sadness necessarily, there is like a resolve to where okay, like you're rooting for right now, this person to get out. That's where a lot of us are right now and hoping to hear good words sooner than later.
00:20:23
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I felt my heart racing just thinking about this, thinking about this airman's family waiting for word about their safety, and certainly we are all praying for and hoping for the best in this situation. We will of course keep our eye on what's going on there in Iran and bring you any new developments in the meantime, though, thank you so much for listening to us, every one. I'm Amy Roboc alongside TJ. Holmes.
00:20:47
Speaker 3: We will talk to you soon