WASHINGTON (AP) — A F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran, the U.S. Central Command said on Thursday.
The F-35 is one of the U.S.'s most advanced fighter jets. The plane landed safely and the pilot was in "stable" condition, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the Central Command that oversees the Middle East, said.
CNN first reported on the incident and said the jet was believed to have been hit by Iranian fire. Iran’s state TV, quoting a Revolutionary Guard statement, said its air defense system badly damaged an F-35.
Hawkins wouldn’t comment on the report and said the incident was under investigation.
The incident would mark the first time Iran has hit a U.S. aircraft in the Iran war since it began in late February, according to CNN. The U.S. and Israel are flying F-35s in the war.
F-35 fighter jets, a stubby-nosed aircraft with stealth coatings, cost up to $77 million a piece in 2023, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The incident came as Iran intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday, raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through energy markets and the global economy.
The strikes, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Iran’s Arab neighbors directly into the conflict. Global fuel supplies were already under pressure because of Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.