‘Live with it’: Era of US F-35s being ‘hunted down’ has begun, Qalibaf says
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says the era in which US F-35 and F-15 fighter jets are being “hunted down” has already begun as reports point to mounting pressure and damage to the US military, some seven months into Washington's war on Iran.
“The era when your F-35s and F-15s get hunted down and you have to report them damaged has already begun,” Qalibaf said in a post on X on Thursday.
“What was once pure nightmare fuel is now the daily reality. Live with it,” he added.
Qalibaf’s remarks came after General Dan Caine, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that American military formations face a new battlefield environment.
“We have to assume from now on that our formations will be hunted by autonomous systems, jammed across the spectrum and tracked in real time,” Caine said on Wednesday.
The remarks come as US military officials and reports point to growing strains on American forces following months of aggression against Iran.
A Pentagon inspector general assessment said Iranian strikes had damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US military bases across West Asia and contributed to shortages of key munitions. It also said the US military had altered the way its forces operate across the region in response to the attacks.
The report also officially confirmed that a US F-35 stealth fighter was damaged by “enemy fire” during a combat mission over Iran. The aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after being hit, according to the assessment.
The confirmation came months after US Central Command had said the aircraft had made an emergency landing following a combat mission, while sources familiar with the incident had said it was believed to have been struck by Iranian fire.
Iran’s air defenses have downed dozens of US and Israeli drones and fighter jets during the latest round of war that began on February 28, despite Washington’s repeated claim that the force has been destroyed.
Meanwhile, The Intercept, citing US officials familiar with military operations, reported that sustained Iranian attacks had severely strained US military readiness.
The officials pointed to depleted defensive-munitions stocks, mounting casualties, maintenance problems, prolonged troop deployments and increasingly difficult logistics. One official warned that the pressure could eventually lead to a “breakdown” in the military’s ability to sustain the war on Iran.
The report also said Iranian missile and drone attacks had damaged US military facilities across Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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