President Donald Trump on Monday celebrated the success of an American rescue operation to recover two U.S. service members from Iran, following the downing of their aircraft.

"We're here today to celebrate the success of one of the largest, most complex, most harrowing combat searches--I guess you would call it a search and rescue mission ever attempted by the military... It's very historic," he said during a press conference at the White House.

"Late Thursday night, an American F-15 fighter jet went down deep inside enemy territory in Iran while participating in Operation Epic Fury, where we're doing unbelievably well, well at a level that nobody's ever seen before... both members of the crew ejected from the aircraft and landed alive on Iranian soil."

"I immediately was asked to make a decision," he went on. "I ordered the US armed forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home, a risky decision, because we could have ended up with 100 dead, as opposed to one or two. It's a hard decision to make, but in the United States military we leave no American behind."

Trump made the remarks as the war entered its sixth week. The conflict began in late February when Israel and the U.S. launched joint strikes on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has since closed the Strait of Hormuz and launched retaliatory strikes at Israel, U.S. bases, and myriad Gulf State nations hosting American forces.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.