IRGC claims destruction of 3 US F-35 jets in retaliation for Qeshm attack

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Thursday that it had launched a retaliatory missile strike against the Al-Azraq Airbase in Jordan, claiming to have destroyed three US F-35 fighter jets and heavily damaging three others. The attack also reportedly killed several US officers and maintenance personnel.

According to the IRGC's Public Relations Office, the strike was a response to a US overnight attack on two residential houses in Qeshm Island, Iran, using bunker-buster bombs. That attack killed three members of a family—a father, mother, and child—and injured two other children.

The IRGC Aerospace Force stated that it fired several ballistic missiles at the parking apron and maintenance hangars used by US F-35 fighter jets at Al-Azraq Airbase on Thursday morning. The IRGC claimed that three F-35 aircraft were completely destroyed and three others sustained heavy damage.

In a statement, the IRGC addressed the people of Jordan, thanking them for what it described as their support and the outspoken positions taken by segments of the country's elite. It said its campaign against US forces would continue until "the last American occupier is expelled from Islamic lands."

The report by Mehr News Agency (MNA) added that the IRGC's claims could not be independently verified. The US military has not yet commented on the alleged attack.