'Extraordinary': Former NATO Commander Amazed by Trump's Iran Airman Rescue

A former NATO commander praised President Donald Trump's efforts to rescue an injured U.S. airman in Iran over the weekend, calling it "incredible". In an appearance on CNN, Admiral James Stavridis said the rescue of the officer stranded in a remote mountain range for more than a day, after his F-15E fighter jet crashed on Friday, was the result of American intelligence agencies "firing on all cylinders." ”

We've talked a lot on air, and we should, about how complicated and difficult and challenging it is to bring all these diverse elements together, but we train for all that. I am really taken with two things here, number one, the CIA role has been quite extraordinary," Stavridis said, adding on the rescue, ”

It's an amazing piece of work." CIA officials alerted the Pentagon after finding the lost airman, with the president immediately greenlighting a rescue mission. Trump said the F-15E pilot was pulled from Iran in "broad daylight," with U.S. planes spending seven hours in Iranian airspace. ”

This is a full colonel, so this is somebody who is 45-plus years old, probably went to SERE school a long time ago, who climbed 7,000 feet, used his transponder, does it all on a broken ankle—I can't wait to see this guy," the admiral told Wolf Blitzer. "

It's an amazing story." This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.