Iran’s Air Defense Headquarters said on Sunday it intercepted and shot down an “enemy” F-15 fighter jet flying over Iran near the island of Hormuz.In a statement released on Sunday, the air defense system said it had intercepted and fired surface-to-air missiles at enemy fighter jets off Iran’s southern coast and near the island of Hormuz hours earlier. It also noted that an investigation is ongoing to learn the fate of the F-15.A video shared by the Fars news agency showed footage of the fighter jet being targeted by the missile.Fars News Agency quoted a statement as saying, “Not long ago, an F-15 enemy intrusion fighter flew over the country’s southern coast and near the island of Hormuz. After being intercepted and hit by missiles, it became a target of the ground-to-air system of the Army’s air defense force.”The latest claims come amid rising military tensions in the region. According to U.S. officials, a few days ago, a U.S. F-35 stealth fighter was damaged while performing a combat mission over Iran and was forced to make an emergency landing at a U.S. air force base in the Middle East.Also read: ‘Europe is within range of Iranian missiles’: IDF warns after Diego Garcia attack; UK says ‘no evidence’Iran claimed it had successfully hit the aircraft using its air defense systems, possibly marking Tehran’s first hit against one of the most advanced U.S. jets in the ongoing conflict.The claim has not been fully confirmed by Washington, but U.S. officials acknowledged that the plane was hit by fire believed to be from Iran.The incident came just a day after Iran and Israel’s missile exchange in the Gulf with the United States reached India’s backyard when Tehran fired two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, a strategically important joint U.S.-British base in the Indian Ocean.However, Iranian missiles targeted military installations about 4,000 kilometers away but did not hit the base.
