State Media Mistakenly Celebrated the Downing of an Iranian Fighter Jet
On Wednesday at noon, after a video circulated showing a fighter jet being shot down over Tehran, the Islamic Republic state media reposted it and claimed that Iran’s air defenses had downed a US F-15 fighter jet. Telegram channels close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also shared the footage, speculated about the pilot’s fate, and praised what they called a “show of strength” by Iran’s air defenses.
Downing of an Iranian Yak by an Israeli fighter jet – screenshot from a video shared on social media. (Social media)
A few hours later, however, the Israeli military said in a statement that it had shot down an Iranian fighter jet over Tehran—specifically a Russian-made Yak-130—during strikes on designated military targets in the capital, using an F-35 Adir. Following the Israeli statement.
Iranian state news outlets deleted their posts, though some regime-linked Telegram channels removed the content later, due to disrupted communications, restricted access, and repeated air strikes on Tehran, but some IRGC-linked channels still keep it.
See previous report: IRGC Claim of 650 US Troops Killed or Wounded Proven False.
Over five days of fighting, the Islamic Republic’s state media published strange and false claims about the number of US personnel killed or wounded. The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters—widely described as the regime’s wartime command—said that missile and drone attacks by the Islamic Republic had so far killed or wounded around 700 US troops. Such claims appear aimed primarily at propaganda and at preventing a loss of morale among the regime’s forces.
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Ali Larijani, secretary of the regime’s Supreme National Security Council, repeated similar claims in a post on X on Wednesday, saying that 500 US troops had been killed so far. Meanwhile, the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, at a press conference on Monday, paid tribute to six service members who had fallen during the war and publicly named four of them.
Video of the Iranian Yak-130 being shot down over Tehran, which Iranian media posted as a “US fighter jet” and later deleted. (Social media)
The Yak-130 is a light combat aircraft. In recent years, several have been delivered from Russia and placed at Iran’s armed forces’ disposal, partly to help offset the country’s ageing fighter fleet. However, the Yak-130 lags far behind advanced Israeli and US fighters in an interceptor role. In practice, it is used mainly for training, routine patrol, or standard missions rather than high-end air combat.
Its presence in Tehran’s skies has been rare during the recent war, as many of Iran’s fighters are grounded and lack the capability to fly. However, on Monday, the Islamic Republic News Agency had published photos claiming that Iran’s MiG and Yak aircraft were patrolling over Tehran. During the 12-day war last June, Israel struck hangars housing numerous Iranian aircraft and effectively controlled Iranian airspace; no Iranian fighter jet was able to take off to confront Israeli aircraft.
On Monday, Iran’s War Headquarters Command claimed that three US fighter jets had been shot down by Iranian air defenses, but it later emerged that they had been mistakenly engaged by a Kuwaiti pilot.
Iran’s most advanced fighter is the Russian MiG-29; international estimates indicate that Iran has 18 of them. Last year, the IRGC was pushing to obtain Su-35 fighters from Russia, but no official announcement has been made regarding a final agreement or deliveries.
Before the fall of the Shah’s government, Iran received 79 F-14 fighter jets from the United States; it is believed that 41 may still be operational. After the Islamic Republic came to power, the United States refused to deliver the final aircraft under the 80-jet contract.
Iran also still has other US-made fighters, most of which are more than half a century old, and there are serious doubts about their operational readiness. Iran also seized 24 Iraqi Mirage jets that fled to Iran in the final days of Saddam Hussein’s rule during the Persian Gulf War, treating them as war reparations; it is estimated that 23 may still be operational.
Basij-linked Telegram channel posted the video of the downing of Iran’s Yak-130 and described it as a US fighter jet. (screenshot: Bisimchi Media Telegram channel)
In the afternoon on Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces said that by shooting down an Iranian fighter jet over Tehran, it had recorded the world’s first-ever downing of a manned aircraft by an F-35 Adir.
