Fact Check: Image doesn't show Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down by Iran
Claim:
An image authentically shows an Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down by Iran in June 2025.
Rating:
In mid-June 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on a range of targets in Iran, sparking a barrage of missile attacks from Iran into Israel. Iran claimed it had taken down three Israeli F-35 fighter jets, and an apparent image of one such jet spread across the internet.
Numerous posts on X showed a large fighter jet with its left wing broken off, surrounded by dozens of people.
(X user @Alphafox78)
There is no evidence that this is an authentic photograph of an Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down by Iran. Numerous elements of the image appear inconsistent with the actual dimensions of such a fighter jet, leading us to conclude it is likely AI-generated or digitally altered.
Official Iranian army Telegram channels claimed the nation's military had brought down three Israeli jets and arrested one pilot. Per PressTV, a state-sponsored Iranian news outlet, this marked "the first time a fifth-generation stealth aircraft has been successfully downed." The report described the exact models of the fighters:
The F-35 fighters represent the most advanced aircraft in the Israeli Air Force, outclassing older, non-stealth F-15 and F-16 jets by a full generation. These jets were acquired from the United States, with the F-35 Lightning II manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
Israel's customized variant, the F-35I, is engineered for radar evasion, enabling deep penetration missions with a reduced risk of detection or interception.
We reached out to the Iranian foreign ministry to get visual proof of its claim that Iran shot down F-35 fighter jets and will update this post if we get more information.
We also reached out to the Israeli army. A spokesperson declined to comment on the exact model of jets Israel used. They also denied Iran's claims of having shot down any Israeli fighter jets, directing us to spokesperson Nadav Shoshani's post on X: "Iran didn't shoot down any Israeli fighter jets. They are trying to create a fake victory narrative and it's not going very well."
The image shared on social media is suspicious for a range of reasons. First, using Google's reverse-image search tool we found no reliable news report describing the image as real.
Second, the F-35 in the X post is too large in comparison to the people surrounding it. According to the U.S. Air Force, F-35 fighter jets are 14 feet tall, have a wingspan of 35 feet and are 51 feet long. Per the Israeli Air Force, they received their F-35 jets from the U.S. in 2016, and nicknamed them "Adir."
These photographs on Lockheed Martin's website show a technician climbing onto the F-35 cockpit.
The following footage from Lockheed Martin also shows a pilot standing in front of the plane at the 1:56 mark. The wingspan is considerably smaller in the video below compared to the wingspan in the X post above:
(YouTube user Lockheed Martin)
Other video footage from 2017 shows the then-U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, visiting Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel and looking at the "Adir" aircraft.
(U.S. Air Force)
(U.S. Air Force)
Based on the jet's dimensions in relation to the people standing around it in the image on X, it is clear that the jet is too large to be an F-35 fighter.
Furthermore, the logo on the right wing on the "fallen" F-35 jet is wrong. Per Getty Images photographs of Israeli F-35 jets, the actual logo is the Star of David, surrounded by a white circle, not the thick border given to the Star of David in the X posts. The photograph below shows an Israeli F-35 flying during an air show in Tel Aviv in April 2023:
(Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
According to news reports, Israel has hit major targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities and missile sites, and also killed senior military officers. Around 14 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian strikes, while Israeli airstrikes killed more than 200 people in Iran as of this writing.
We have also reported on inauthentic footage claiming to show Iran shooting down Israeli fighter jets. We learned the footage circulated online weeks before Israel launched attacks on Iran on June 13, 2025.
"An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II Fighter Aircraft Flies Over..." Getty Images, 26 Apr. 2023, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-israeli-air-force-f-35-lightning-ii-fighter-aircraft-news-photo/1252190335. Accessed 16 June 2025.
Christensen, Laerke. "Don't Be Fooled by This Video Claiming to Show Iran Downing Israeli Fighter Jets." Snopes, 16 June 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/video-iran-israeli-fighter-jets/. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"Explainer: How Iran Outsmarted Israel and Downed F-35 Fighter Jets for the First Time." PressTV, 15 June 2025, https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/06/14/749845/explainer-how-iran-outsmarted-israeli-regime-shot-down-F35-fighter-jets-first-time. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"Explainer: What We Know so Far in the Israel-Iran Conflict." The Guardian, 16 June 2025. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/16/israel-iran-conflict-what-we-know-so-far-explainer. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"F-35A Lightning II." U.S. Air Force, https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/478441/f-35a-lightning-ii/. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"INTO THE COCKPIT: Experience the World's Most Advanced Aircraft ⚡." YouTube, Lockheed Martin, 19 June 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBR4E-bRcck&t=116s. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"Religious American IAF Reservist Keeps Israel's F-35 Jets in the Air | The Jerusalem Post." The Jerusalem Post | JPost.Com, 26 Oct. 2023, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-770312. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"The Latest: Death Toll Grows as Israel and Iran Trade Attacks for Third Day." AP News, 15 June 2025, https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-iran-war-latest-06-15-2025-291df01b03179cd414db21ca33791b39. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"U.S. Ambassador Friedman Visits Israeli F-35 Squadron." U.S. Air Force, 11 Dec. 2017, https://www.dover.af.mil/News/Video/videoid/572135/dvpTag/IAF/. Accessed 16 June 2025.
"What You Need to Know about Our New F-35." Israeli Air Force, 12 May 2016, https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/israeli-air-force/what-you-need-to-know-about-our-new-f-35/. Accessed 16 June 2025.
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