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Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed Thursday it destroyed three U.S. F-35 fighter jets and heavily damaged three more in a ballistic missile strike on Jordan's Azraq Air Base, a claim that could not be independently verified. Jordan separately reported downing five Iranian missiles for a fourth consecutive day.
In a statement carried by Tasnim News Agency and IRNA, the IRGC's public relations office said its Aerospace Force struck the deployment ramp and maintenance hangar for U.S. F-35 fighter jets at Azraq Air Base with several ballistic missiles Thursday morning, claiming to have "completely destroyed" three F-35 aircraft and caused heavy damage to three others.
The statement also claimed that "several officers and technical and maintenance personnel" of the "enemy" were killed in the strike.
The IRGC statement said the strike was carried out in response to what it described as a U.S. attack early Thursday on two residential homes on Iran's Qeshm Island, claiming the strike killed a father, mother and child from one family and wounded two other children.
The IRGC said its response was intended in part to help what it called the "Islamic land of Jordan" gain freedom from what it described as American occupation, and directed a message to the Jordanian public thanking them for what it called their cooperation and citing public statements from unspecified Jordanian figures.
The statement concluded: "Our struggle and yours will continue until the last American occupier is expelled from Islamic lands."
Jordan's army said Thursday its air defenses intercepted and downed five missiles launched from Iran toward the kingdom early that morning, with no casualties reported, according to Petra news agency.
A military spokesperson said: "Air defenses engaged five missiles launched from Iran targeting the Kingdom's territory early this morning, Thursday. The missiles were detected, intercepted, and shot down according to established defense plans."
Jordan has reported intercepting Iranian projectiles for the fourth consecutive day, downing five missiles on Wednesday, one drone on Tuesday, and two drones on Monday
Its latest interception came hours after the U.S. military announced it had completed "a heavy wave of strikes against Iran" in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan.
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