CIA: Iran “humiliated” by rescue mission

CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Monday praised the intelligence community, the military and President Trump for the successful weekend rescue mission of a downed U.S. airman deep inside Iranian territory.

“At the president’s direction, we deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses to a daunting challenge comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert,” he told reporters.

“This was also a race against the clock, as it was critical that we locate the downed aviator as quickly as possible, while at the same time keeping our enemies misdirected. For that reason, in addition to the human and technical assets deployed by the president to find our airman, CIA executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians who were desperately hunting for our airman.”

Mr. Ratcliffe also said the operation’s success was a major embarrassment for the Iranian regime.

“Our intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission,” he said.

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