The Israeli military said one of its F-35 stealth fighter jets shot down a piloted Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter over Tehran on Wednesday. It also said Israeli air defences were activated to intercept Iranian missiles fired at targets around the country, and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.
“An IAF F-35I Adir fighter jet shot down an Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter jet. This is the first shootdown in the history of a manned fighter aircraft by an F-35 Adir fighter jet,” the Israeli Defence Force wrote on X.
The tempo of the strikes on Iran was so intense that authorities postponed the mourning ceremony for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the conflict, according to Iranian state television.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said NATO defences intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkey’s airspace. An Iranian naval frigate sank off the coast of Sri Lanka. Authorities there rescued 32 people, though others died, Sri Lankan officials said.
It was not immediately clear what happened to the ship, which Sri Lankan authorities identified as the IRIS Dena, and is armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and can carry a helicopter. The US military said earlier it had already destroyed 17 Iranian vessels and that its goal was to sink “the entire navy.”