Former CENTCOM commander calls rescue of U.S. airman a "hard lesson for Iran"
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, a former commander of U.S. Central Command, outlined takeaways on the search-and-rescue mission for a missing U.S. airman on "Face the Nation," and called it a "hard lesson for Iran."
Updated on: April 5, 2026 / 1:26 PM EDT / CBS News
McKenzie noted that Iran was unable to find the missing weapons systems officer, who hid in Iran for more than a day, even though the country's leaders put out a "broad appeal to their people to turn him in."
"That does not appear to have been successful," he told CBS News' Ed O'Keefe. "That's maybe a sign of disaffection. Don't know, but you can't be happy with that if you're a senior leader in Tehran this morning."
McKenzie, a CBS News contributor, spoke to "Face the Nation" after one of the most harrowing two-day periods in the U.S.'s five-week-long war with Iran.
The American F-15E fighter jet was downed by Iranian fire on Friday. The plane's pilot was rescued by two military helicopters later that day. But the jet's second crew member had remained missing in Iran's mountainous terrain, armed with only a handgun to defend himself, sparking an intense search operation involving dozens of American commandos and several dozen warplanes and helicopters, U.S. officials told CBS News.