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A second American F-35 fighter jet was reportedly hit while operating in the skies over Bandar Abbas Province in southern Iran, according to reports firstly emerged from Iranian media.
The aircraft subsequently diverted and landed at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates.
The aircraft subsequently diverted and landed at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. Details surrounding the circumstances of the strike, including the source of fire and the pilot's condition, were not immediately available.
The reported incident came just hours after the first confirmed strike on a US F-35 over Iran, in which a stealth jet sustained damage from suspected Iranian fire and was forced to make an emergency landing at a US air base in the Middle East. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, confirmed that aircraft had been "flying a combat mission over Iran" when it was compelled to land, adding that "the aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition."
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed direct responsibility for the earlier strike, offering a sharply different account of its severity. According to a Tehran-based regional correspondent for NTV, Türkiye's first 24-hour news channel, the IRGC said the F-35 was hit at approximately 2:50 a.m. local time by what it described as an advanced, next-generation air defense system.
The IRGC asserted the aircraft sustained heavy damage and that the probability of a crash was high, claims US Central Command has not confirmed.
Iran has previously made unsubstantiated claims of shooting down F-35s during the 12-day war with Israel in June 2025, with evidence later assessed as fabricated or digitally manipulated.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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