Monday, March 16, 2026

IAF destroys Khamenei’s aircraft in Tehran - JNS Staff

 

by JNS Staff

The IDF said the overnight airstrike at Mehrabad Airport destroyed the supreme leader’s official jet, disrupting Iran’s coordination with proxies.

 

Israeli F-35I “Adir” fighter jets en route to strike targets in Iran, March 2026. Credit: IDF.
Israeli F-35I “Adir” fighter jets en route to strike targets in Iran, March 2026. Credit: IDF.

The Israeli Air Force knocked out the Iranian Supreme Leader’s official aircraft in a “precise strike” at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport overnight Sunday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

“The aircraft was used by Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Iranian terror regime, additional senior officials and Iranian military personnel to advance military procurement and to manage coordination with axis countries through both domestic and international flights,” the IDF said.

Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike in Tehran during the opening phase of “Operation Roaring Lion” on Feb. 28.

“The dismantling of the aircraft disrupts the Iranian regime leadership’s coordination capabilities with axis countries, its military force build-up efforts and its ability to rehabilitate its capabilities. As a result, another strategic asset of the regime has been degraded,” the statement continued.

 

IAF jets began “a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz,” the IDF announced late Monday morning.

In a “significant strike in the heart of Tehran,” the IDF said on Monday afternoon that its air force “destroyed a compound belonging to the Iranian terror regime used to develop satellite attack capabilities in space.”

The IDF said the facility contributed to the Iranian regime’s efforts to target satellites, including those belonging to Israel and other countries.

The site was linked to the development of the Chamran-1 satellite, launched into orbit by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in September 2024, according to the IDF. The military said the strike followed an earlier attack last week on another space research compound operated by the Iranian Space Organization in Tehran.

The IDF earlier said that it struck more than 200 Iranian targets on Sunday, including command centers, defense systems and weapon storage and production sites.

“The IDF continues to degrade the ballistic missiles array and the defense systems of the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran,” the statement continued.

Israeli forces targeted and killed members of a drone launch cell operating in western Iran, releasing video footage of the attack on Sunday. According to the IDF, Israeli aircraft identified the operatives using real-time intelligence and targeted them after they attempted to flee the site..

Earlier on Sunday, the IAF completed a wave of strikes in the Hamedan area of western Iran, hitting several “key headquarters” of the IRGC and its Basij paramilitary volunteer militia.

“These headquarters served the regime’s bodies to manage the ongoing activities and to advance terror attacks against the State of Israel and additional countries across the Middle East,” the IDF said.

Israel’s military also on Sunday published new footage of Israeli Air Force F-35I “Adir” stealth fighters on their way to strike regime targets in Iran.

The IDF said on March 4 that an “Adir” fighter jet shot down an Iranian Air Force YAK-130 warplane over Tehran, marking the first time that any F-35 has downed a manned aircraft in combat.

It was also the first Israeli air-to-air engagement with a manned enemy plane in more than 40 years. The last such encounter occurred in 1985, when Israeli F-15s shot down two Syrian MiG-23s over Lebanon.

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told reporters at a briefing on Sunday that Jerusalem will continue operations in both Iran and Lebanon until the objectives of its campaign are achieved.

“We have an orderly, well-planned combat strategy. We have thousands more targets in Iran and we generate additional targets every day,” Defrin said. “The regime is already weakened. We continue to weaken it more and more each day. The entire IDF is prepared and determined to complete the mission and remove the threats facing the State of Israel.”


 JNS Staff

Source: https://www.jns.org/roaring-lion-israel-hit-200-iranian-targets-on-sunday/

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