Israel claims it shot down Iranian manned fighter aircraft by F-35 warplane in Tehran

ISTANBUL

An Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian Air Force YAK-130 aircraft over the skies of Iran’s capital Tehran, the Israeli army claimed on Wednesday.

The army said in a statement the incident marked the “first shootdown in history” of a manned fighter aircraft by an F-35 fighter jet.

The incident occurred shortly after the Israeli army launched what it called “broad scale” airstrikes targeting Iranian sites in Tehran.

The army also said that it had struck dozens of facilities belonging to Iran’s internal security forces and the paramilitary Basij force.

Since Saturday, Israel and the United States have been carrying out attacks on Iran that have killed hundreds of people, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and top military officials, while Tehran has responded by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and the Gulf countries that are home to US assets.