Iran has announced that it has, for the first time in history, struck an F-35 stealth fighter.

      For the first time in history, Iranian military forces have managed to hit an American fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, the F-35. The statement was released by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as reported by the Iranian agency Fars. "The F-35 fighter jet of the U.S. Army was shot down at 2:50 this morning by a new advanced air defense system of the IRGC Aerospace Forces and sustained serious damage," the statement claims. The incident reportedly took place in central Iran, as noted in the statement. In turn, the American television channel CNN, which is critical of President Donald Trump's military campaign against Iran, reports, citing sources, that the F-35 fighter made an emergency landing at one of the U.S. bases in the Middle East after being hit. Captain Tim Hawkins, a representative of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), stated that the aircraft was on a combat mission over Iran and successfully landed after the incident. The pilot of the fighter is in stable condition, and an investigation is underway to determine what exactly happened to the F-35. According to CNN, this could be the first case of an American aircraft being hit by Iran since the beginning of the war. Previously, three American heavy F-15 fighters were mistakenly shot down by the Kuwaiti Armed Forces, who mistook them for Iranian aircraft.

      The F-35 Lightning II is an American stealth multirole fifth-generation fighter developed by Lockheed Martin.