A US F-35 stealth fighter jet was struck by Iran and forced to make an emergency landing at a US air base on Thursday, the first time that an American aircraft has been hit by the Islamic regime’s military since the war began.
Less than an hour after the jet was hit, Donald Trump told reporters that Iran’s anti-aircraft weaponry was eliminated, adding: ‘Nobody is even shooting at us.’
US Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said the jet was flying over Iran when it was forced to make an emergency landing.
‘The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,’ Hawkins said, adding that an investigation had been launched. It was unclear if the pilot was injured.
The attack on the $100 million state-of-the-art fighter jet comes at a perilous moment in the war as Trump himself broke with Israel last night over strikes on an Iranian gas field that set the Gulf ablaze, sparking retaliatory strikes on America’s Arab allies.
Iran’s barrage continued Thursday as drones struck a major oil refinery in Haifa, Israel, sparking yet more market turmoil.
US crude rocketed by 4.9 percent, while Brent crude – the global benchmark – spiked as high as $118 per barrel, up more than 60 percent since the start of the war.
Footage was later released by Iranian state media purporting to show the regime firing up on the US F-35 jet.
As the war entered its 19th day, Iran launched multiple assaults at crucial Gulf oil refineries and closed a Saudi oil port on the Red Sea.
A US F-35 stealth fighter jet, which cost upwards of $100 million, was struck by Iran and forced to make an emergency landing at a US air base on Thursday
Less than an hour after the jet was hit, Donald Trump told reporters that Iran’s anti-aircraft weaponry was eliminated, adding: ‘Nobody is even shooting at us’
It is unclear if the jet’s pilot suffered any injuries from the incident
The Trump administration continues to claim the war is a resounding success.
Pete Hegseth told a press conference at the Pentagon earlier that Ian’s air defenses had been completely ‘flattened’ by US-Israeli strikes.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that US forces continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory, with warplanes hunting Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz and helicopters striking Iranian drones.
Caine said the US military has also dropped 5,000-pound bombs on underground weapon-storage facilities.
But as the pair addressed reporters at the Pentagon, images on TV screens showed smoke billowing over oil and gas depots across the region, sparking panic on Wall Street.
A vessel was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another damaged off Qatar, while an Iranian drone smashed into a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea, which the country had been hoping to use as an alternative exit route.
After the latest Iranian barrage, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen admitted the electricity grid in northern Israel sustained some damage. He said crews had restored electricity to some areas and were working to restore it in others.
Hegseth told reporters that the US military ‘controls the fate’ of Iran.
‘Iran has the ability to make the right choices,’ he said, adding that Tehran ‘should not, going forward, target Arab allies, Arab countries, trying to create pain, the pain that they created themselves.’
The Trump administration has cited various war objectives, including degrading Iran’s missile capabilities and its nuclear program. Killing senior leaders has also been a priority for the US and Israel.
Hegseth said at a Thursday press briefing in the Pentagon that Iran’s air defenses have been completely ‘flattened’ by US-Israeli strikes
Tehran responded on Wednesday by bombing of energy sites in Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The attacks have sent global oil markets into a tailspin
Hegseth said at a Thursday press briefing in the Pentagon that Iran’s air defenses have been completely ‘flattened’ by US-Israeli strikes
Hegseth suggested that more leaders could be targeted, referring specifically to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij force, a powerful internal security unit whose leader was killed by Israel earlier this week.
‘The last job anyone in the world wants right now, senior leader for the IRGC or Basij, temp jobs, all of them,’ Hegseth said.
Among the Iranian energy facilities hit in recent days was the Bushehr nuclear power plant complex. There were no injuries and the plant suffered no damage, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
Israel said Thursday it struck Iranian targets in the Caspian Sea for the first time. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the strikes hit dozens of targets, including ships, a shipyard and a command center.
The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a senior administration official says.
The department sent the request to the White House, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.
Israel targeted one of Iran’s critical gas field in the South Pars on Wednesday.
With some 80 percent of all power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency, the attack directly threatens the country’s electricity supplies. Natural gas is also used to supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, taxies on the flight deck aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on Wednesday
American sailors observing as an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 31, approaches the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford (CVN 78), during Operation Epic Fury
Hegseth holds a briefing with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, at the Pentagon in Washington, March 19
An Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache attack helicopter fires rockets while flying along the border between northern Israel and southern Lebanon on Wednesday
‘Israel’s target selection in this war has heavily focused on the institutions, leaders and infrastructure,’ the New York-based Soufan Center said in a research note. ‘It now seeks to inflict additional pressure on the regime by making the living conditions for civilians intolerable.’
Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of ‘uncontrollable consequences’ that ‘could engulf the entire world.’
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday night, Trump accused Israel of ‘lashing out in anger’ and claimed that the US ‘knew nothing of the attack’ which resulted in the bombing of Arab energy sites.
Trump has previously asked Israel to refrain from strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure amid growing concern over soaring oil prices as he faces crucial midterm elections in November.
America’s Arab allies were furious at Israel’s attack and the US failure to prevent it.
Trump said that Israel would not attack South Pars again. But he warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the US would retaliate and ‘massively blow up the entirety’ of the field.
‘I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran,’ Trump said on social media.
More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon have displaced more than 1 million people – roughly 20 percent of the population – according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 1,000 people have been killed. Israel says it has killed more than 500 Hezbollah militants.
A US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 151, flies over Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), during Operation Epic Fury
Smoke billowing from the Mina Petroleum facility at Salalah Port in Oman on Monday
The interior of a destroyed apartment, with the Tel Aviv skyline visible in the background, following an overnight Iranian missile strike on Thursday
A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in Beirut’s Bashoura neighborhood early on Wednesday
Trump speaks to Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine as he departs the White House on March 18
In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. Four people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile strike, according to officials.
At least 13 US military members have been killed.
Iran announced the execution of three men detained in January´s nationwide protests, the first such sentences known to have been carried out, the judiciary´s Mizan news agency reported.
