New Delhi, April 7 -- The rescue of an American airman shot down over Iran on Easter Sunday has become the latest flashpoint in a deepening theological debate over the US-Israeli war, after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly likened the operation to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Hegseth offered a striking retelling of the rescue mission, framing it in explicitly Christian terms. The F-15E fighter jet, he noted, was "shot down on a Friday - Good Friday," the day Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus. After ejecting, the airman spent the night sheltering in hiding, "in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday," Hegseth said, before being extracted at dawn on Easter Sunday.

"A pilot reb...