Iran shoots down 3 warplanes, 29 drones over past hours

TEHRAN, March 03 (YPA) – The Iranian military announced on Monday that it had shot down seven advanced enemy drones, raising the total number of aircraft downed since the start of the war to 29.

According to Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian armed forces said in statement No. 8 that air defense units had targeted and destroyed seven advanced drones over the past several hours in different parts of the country.

The statement specified that the drones included MQ-9, Heron, Hermes, and Orbiter models. They were reportedly brought down by Air Force defense systems in the regions of Tabriz, Tehran, Isfahan, Khorramabad, and Bushehr.

With the addition of these drones and the aircraft shot down the previous day, the total number of downed aircraft since the outbreak of the war has reached 29, the statement said.

Earlier, Tasnim News Agency reported that the number of U.S. fighter jets shot down had risen to three. The agency cited a statement from Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters (KCHQ)” which claimed that three American fighter jets were downed by domestically developed Iranian air defense systems.

Regional media have circulated multiple images since the morning purportedly showing the crash sites of the fighter jets and their pilots parachuting to the ground.

The agency added that the first American fighter jet was shot down earlier in the day by Iran’s Air Defense Forces, marking the first such incident in 27 years.

AA