Iran says it shot down second US F-35 jet over Tehran

A spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters said the jet had been “completely destroyed” and that the pilot’s chances of survival were low, in comments carried by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The IRGC claimed the downed fighter jet was from a squadron based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, a US-operated air base in eastern England. In late March, Iran said it had shot down a US F-35, a claim rejected by Washington. At the time, the US military said an F-35 had made an emergency landing after a combat mission over Iran, adding that the pilot was in a stable condition. The F-35, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, is one of the US’s primary fighter jets and has been widely used since the start of the war on 28 February. There was no immediate comment from the US on the latest incident. Iran also said on Thursday that it had downed an Israeli F-16 fighter jet. In recent days, the US and Israel have escalated their threats to intensify their military campaign, including warnings of bombing Iran “back to the Stone Ages”. In a speech on Wednesday night, US President Donald Trump vowed to escalate what he described as two to three more weeks of “extremely hard” strikes against Iran, and repeated threats against civilian power plants. He later renewed his warning that attacks on infrastructure would intensify, saying the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran”. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants, Trump wrote on social media, adding that Iran's leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST! Targeting civilian infrastructure The US‑Israeli bombing campaign has ramped up its strikes on civilian infrastructure across Iran, leaving tens of thousands of non-military sites, such homes, schools and hospitals, damaged or completely destroyed. Iranian livelihoods are being blown apart by US and Israeli bombs Read More » Earlier this week, Iranians in Tehran told Middle East Eye that the nature of the strikes has shifted in the weeks since the start of the war, with civilian areas increasingly being targeted. Iran’s health ministry said US and Israeli strikes on Thursday heavily damaged the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a century-old medical centre involved in combating diseases such as cholera and Covid-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had verified more than 20 attacks on healthcare facilities in Iran since 1 March, the third day of the war. In a post on X on Friday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the strike on Pasteur Institute left it “unable to continue delivering health services”. He also condemned attacks on the Delaram Sina Psychiatric Hospital on 29 March, and the Tofigh Daru pharmaceutical facility on 31 March. Fresh explosions were reported on Friday morning in the Tehran area, with Iranian state television saying US-Israeli strikes hit a bridge in the northern town of Karaj twice – the first causing civilian casualties and the second striking as emergency teams responded. The strikes killed eight people and injured 95 others, including travellers and tourists, according to the regional governor's office. Meanwhile, Iran said it had struck targets in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel in retaliation for earlier US-Israeli strikes on its industrial facilities. They included American steel industries in Abu Dhabi, American aluminium industries in Bahrain, and the Rafael arms factories of the Zionist regime, it said. War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0