Iran said it had attacked US bases and helicopters in a „regional country“ using missiles and drones in retaliation. Centcom said Tehran fired two missiles at Kuwait and three at Bahrain, all of which broke apart or were intercepted.
Kuwait‘s army later said Iranian drones had hit its international airport, causing „significant“ building damage and injuries to a number of people.
(3 June 2026, 03:10 BST)
Centcom said it “downed multiple drones and ensured no American personnel or assets were harmed”.
The reported attack followed claims by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that it had targeted US military assets in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for a US strike on Qeshm Island.
Earlier, Centcom said it had conducted a “self-defence” strike against an Iranian ground control station on the island.
“The value is that you can move these quickly,” she said. “They are mobile launch systems, in some cases man-portable. We don’t know how high the Reaper was flying. Based on the released video, it may have been relatively easy for them to shoot down, but it still indicates they retain some remaining air defence capability.”
Iran’s larger air defence network has been badly damaged. It was built around older radar-guided surface-to-air missile systems, including domestically produced batteries and Russian-supplied missile defence systems such as the S-300. Israeli and US attacks are widely believed to have degraded much of that network.
(31 min ago)
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has shot down a MQ-9 Reaper drone after identifying “hostile aircraft” entering Iranian airspace.
The Guard’s forces “also fired upon an RQ-4 drone and an intruding F-35 fighter jet”, a statement said, without specifying when the incidents took place.
The Lebanese armed group has said that its forces “confronted an Israeli warplane in the airspace of the western sector” at 14:15 local time with a surface-to-air missile.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed three drones that entered its airspace from Iraq on Sunday morning.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said the drones were neutralised after crossing into Saudi territory.
NNA – „Hezbollah“ announced in communiqués that “the ‘’Islamic Resistance“ targeted a Merkava tank in the town of Rashaf with a loitering glider and achieved a confirmed hit.
The „Islamic Resistance“ also intercepted an Israeli enemy army drone in the airspace of the Tyre region with a surface-to-air missile.
(7 hours ago)
Explosions have been reported in the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and on Qeshm Island, according to Iranian state media.
The Mizan News Agency said air defences intercepted several small drones over Qeshm, citing local sources.
Separately, Tasnim News Agency reported that air defence systems shot down two drones over Bandar Abbas.
(4 May 2026 16:12 BST | Last update: 2 hours 57 mins ago)
Iranian sources told MEE that Iranian intelligence had established the Emirati role in the attacks went beyond hosting US bases.
One official said: „Iranian intelligence believes the UAE also made some of its own air facilities available for operations against Iran.“ Abu Dhabi has served as an advanced platform for Israeli interests in the region, the official said.
He suggested this included „deception operations“ – false-flag Israeli attacks on Oman and at least one other country intended to look like Iranian ones.
Iran also believes that cooperation included the use of the AI infrastructure within the UAE to support data collection and analysis for US and Israeli targeting.
If Iran were to be invaded, the UAE would be treated as an aggressor, one diplomat told MEE.
That the UAE has gone way beyond its Gulf neighbours in supporting the US and Israeli attack on Iran, is down to one man, its President Mohammed bin Zayed, often referred to by the acronym MBZ.
Air defence systems are active in the sky over Iran‘s Kermanshah and its surrounding suburbs, according to the Mehr news agency.
“Local sources claim this sound resulted from testing defence systems, but official sources have not yet announced confirmation of this matter,” the report said.
The Prime Minister contacted his Lebanese counterpart by telephone and strongly condemned Israel’s aggression.
According to a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s House, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke over the phone.
Combat search and rescue missions have become relatively rare for U.S. forces after more than a generation of near-total air dominance, with American aircraft typically operating with limited threats to aircraft in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released public information about the downed planes. But the Pentagon notified the House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member from the fighter jet was not known.
In an email from the Pentagon that obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, the military said it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without providing more details.
Iran’s Mehr news agency is reporting that a US helicopter, on a search mission for the jet reportedly shot down in Iran, was also hit by a projectile.
We will bring you more on this as soon as we can.
10:53 AM (US time zone)
An American F-15E fighter jet was downed over Iran, U.S. officials confirmed Friday, and a search and rescue effort is ongoing, two sources confirmed to CBS News. The F-15E is flown by a two-member crew.
Earlier Friday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard claimed it shot down a U.S. fighter jet over central Iran.
Nicole Grajewski, the author of Russia and Iran: Partners in Defiance from Syria to Ukraine, said that Iran does not possess the Wing Loong Drone in its arsenal.
Neither the US nor Israel is known to operate Wing Loong II drones, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE have them in their arsenal.
The Wing Loong drone has featured prominently in Sudan’s civil war, where the UAE has deployed them in support of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, according to The New York Times.
In a statement on Friday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that its newly developed and advanced air defenses had shot down a stealth F-35 fighter jet in central Iran.
The downed aircraft belonged to the Lakenheath squadron, it said, adding that the fighter jet was completely destroyed and crashed.
Due to the complete disintegration of the aircraft, the fate of the pilot remains unknown, it noted.
The report said the drone was intercepted and destroyed earlier Tuesday.
Iranian officials said the downing marked the 146th drone shot down during the conflict.
The MQ-9 Reaper, widely used for surveillance and strike missions, has an estimated cost of about $30 million per unit.
While the specifics of the incident remain unknown and are certainly under review at the Pentagon, there are strict limits on the range of most shoulder-fired infrared-guided anti-aircraft fire systems.
(…)
Given these dynamics, some might wonder whether Iran has developed a longer-range infrared anti-aircraft weapon.
(March 25, 2026)
Though the full 15-point plan is not yet available, it mainly focuses on Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, including a demand to end uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, reported the NYT, citing sources.
“Last night, in a precise and lethal operation, the IDF eliminated the commander of the IRGC Navy, Tangasiri, along with senior naval command officials,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday. “We will continue operating in Iran with full force to achieve the war’s objectives.”
“The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command. “This incident is under investigation.”
Hawkins’ statement came after Iran said that its forces successfully struck an F-35 and released a video that purported to show the aircraft being hit.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretariat announced the martyrdom of Dr. Ali Larijani alongside his son, Mortaza Larijani; the SNSC deputy for security, Alireza Bayat; and a number of their bodyguards.
In October 2024, Israel carried out a significant strike targeting Iran‘s missile production and air defenses, saying it could operate „with greater freedom in Iranian airspace.“
Israel conducted another preemptive strike in June 2025, destroying Iranian air defenses so its air forces could attack Iran‘s nuclear facilities. Days later, the US carried out Operation Midnight Hammer aimed at destroying major Iranian nuclear sites.
After that operation, Caine said it didn‘t look like Iran got a shot off at the strike package. „It appears that Iran‘s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us,“ he said.
(March 3, 2026)
Iranian air defence sites have been subjected to aggressive electromagnetic spectrum operations but in tandem, its defences have also been targeted kinetically.
(…)
For long-range defence, Iran has developed the Bavar-373 which has comparable capabilities to the Russian S-300. For short range air defence, the country has reverse engineered the Chinese HQ-7 as the Ya Zahr, and in 2021 the Zoubin system was unveiled.
Besides these copy cat systems, the country also leans on ageing Russian air defences, most notably the S-300PMU-2 battery.
The E-7A Wedgetail aircraft will presumably be deployed to the Al Minad airbase, some 40 kilometres south of Dubai. The Australian Defence Force has operated there since 2003. It maintains a small permanent presence at the base to support ADF operations across the Middle East.
Last week, the Albanese government announced it was deploying a C-17 large transport aircraft and a KC-30A air-to-air refuelling aircraft to the region. These planes are now assumed to be at Al Minad, too.
The RAAF previously deployed E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to the region from 2014–20 to support the US-led military operations against Islamic State in Iraq. The RAAF personnel going there now, therefore, will be quite experienced in operations in the region and the dangers involved.
Spain is sending its Cristóbal Colón frigate to Cyprus as part of a joint deployment with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and vessels from the Greek Navy, the country’s defense ministry said in a statement Thursday.
The Cristóbal Colón is Spain’s “most technologically advanced frigate,” said the ministry, which added that the deployment shows the country’s “commitment to defending the European Union and its eastern border.”