Israel Has Not Penetrated Our Airspace, Despite Media Claims: Iranian General

The head of Iran’s Air Defense Force on Thursday denied reports that Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace. Brig. Gen. Alireza Sabahifard said that Iran’s air defense constantly monitors movements in the country’s airspace and would know if it was penetrated by Israeli planes. “This claim is like their others and such a thing has not taken place at all,” the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Sabahifard as saying. The general added that enemy forces periodically make such claims in order to asses Iran’s reaction. In late August, the London-based Saudi online newspaper Elaph, in an unverified report, said that F-35I stealth multirole combat aircraft operated by the Israeli Air Force had evaded both Russian and Iranian radars and entered Iranian airspace multiple times over the previous two months. Elaph also claimed that Israel and the US carried out undisclosed exercises over the Red Sea simulating a strike on Iran.