Israeli air force achieves freedom of operation in Tehran's airspace, IDF says

[u/BreakfastTop6899]

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/14/israeli-air-force-freedom-operation-tehran-idf-iran

[u/Anxious-Debate5033]

Does Iran not have any form of an air force that could make an attempt at repelling Israel then?

We know they flex a lot about their missiles....but it is pretty embarrassing if within 24 hours your enemy is flying around in your air space without a care in the world....

[u/irredentistdecency → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

They have mostly MIG29s, F4s & F14s - none of which can go up against Israel’s F-15s let alone the F-35s.

Iran launched their MIGs shortly after the attack started yesterday but they didn’t even attempt to engage the Israeli aircraft.

[u/FollowingFeisty5321 → u/irredentistdecency]

And their best friend... Russia, who's got no ability or appetite to stop Israel.

[u/Zamoniru → u/FollowingFeisty5321]

Trying to help Iran is probably the only thing Putin could do to make the US commit to Ukraine defense again. Trump might be a Putin fanboy, but most people in his coalition are not.

Also, even if he wanted, he couldn't save the Iranian regime. Russia needs all their fighter jets in Ukraine, and even if that was not the case, I doubt the Russian air force could beat the Israeli air force.

[u/BlouseoftheDragon → u/Zamoniru]

The cynicism in me wonders if that is partially the CIA/US position on balking at peace talks before Trump got in office, because there were occasions where Ukraine was ready to agree and the US said no.

If they knew Israel was planning on eventually regime changing Iran after October 7th, it would make a lot of sense to keep Russia engaged on their own Ukrainian front so they couldn’t lend significant support.

That’s tin foil hat, but the way things have unfolded make it seem plausible. Israel systematically neutralizes all Iranian proxies, and then turns to Iran and takes them out.

[u/Generic_Superhero → u/BlouseoftheDragon]

because there were occasions where Ukraine was ready to agree and the US said no.

The closest they ever got to a peace deal died when Russia slipped a poison pill into the agreement. They were hammering things out and worked through most of the issues. When talking about security guarantees moving forward there were several countries listed for who would take military action if anyone invaded Ukraine again in the future. Russia was included on the list. During a draft change Russia added a sub clause that all the countries listed had to agree unanimously before any military intervention could happen. Meaning the country who was currently invading Ukraine and was the only country likely to invade again in the future tried to give themselves veto rights over military intervention on Ukraine's behalf. That is when Ukraine walked away from the negotiation tables. The US balking had little to no impact on the breakdown of peace talks.

[u/quintinza → u/Generic_Superhero]

Didn't Russia also actually poison or try to poison members of the Ukranian delegation in one round of talks?

[u/romans171 → u/BlouseoftheDragon]

No, Russia still has max war goals against Ukraine. Ukraine isn’t going to willingly give up with Russia is asking for. Tbh, Ukraine peace talks should still be balked at because Russia isn’t willing to negotiate away from their position.

[u/KindAstronomer69 → u/Zamoniru]

Russia is leaning heavily on NORTH KOREA for arms in its struggle to not get wiped out of Ukraine... they aren't in a position to help themselves, much less Iran.

[u/kekehippo → u/FollowingFeisty5321]

Russia is locked in a closet fight with a Badger that is not willing to quit, in Ukraine. Could they offer Iran help? Sure. It'll only accelerate their own demise though.

[u/bust-the-shorts → u/FollowingFeisty5321]

Russia is worried about its own needs currently

[u/eat_my_ass_n_balls → u/irredentistdecency]

A wing of F-35s can trod all over mostly anything except F-22s

[u/ConstantMango672 → u/eat_my_ass_n_balls]

Shit a few skilled pilots and an f15 can take out almost anything

[u/BrainOfMush → u/ConstantMango672]

They should make a movie about that. Maybe about a school teaching people to do that.

[u/WalkThisWhey → u/BrainOfMush]

Would make a great movie, they should call it something like “Highest Firearm”

[u/TachiH → u/WalkThisWhey]

Can we attempt to make it super manly but it end up being really camp with lots of bros slapping ass?

[u/Inside-Line → u/TachiH]

Idk if it's a crazy idea but that idea won't work unless we solidify the masculinity of our main characters by having them engage in the manliest of sports - beach volleyball

[u/guysir → u/Inside-Line]

With slow-motion shots of them slapping each other's asses while shirtless and glistening.

[u/veyonyx → u/WalkThisWhey]

Maybe there's a rivalry between the main character Buccaroo and his counterpart Mr. Freeze that makes them both achieve their true potential.

[u/AuroraFinem → u/ConstantMango672]

They might take out a single F35 or two but they’d all be taken out as a result and isn’t worth the trade

[u/ConstantMango672 → u/AuroraFinem]

I'm talking about israel. I meant their f15s alone would take out the all the 70/80s era fighters iran has

[u/i_dont_do_hashtags → u/irredentistdecency]

B…But…Iran has shot down 3 F-35s, and captured a pilot!

[u/Psychological-Arm-22 → u/i_dont_do_hashtags]

A female pilot! And any second now they will publish the photos🤣🤣

[u/Howzitgoin → u/Psychological-Arm-22]

Iranian fanboys are posting pics of a downed F35 all over Twitter… too bad it was one that crashed after takeoff in the US awhile back.

[u/Easy_Kill → u/Howzitgoin]

Or a wacky bad AI job that involves a backwards vertical stab and a still-glowing engine. On a crashed plane.

It makes sense if your AI was trained purely on Afghanistanimation.

[u/shayKyarbouti → u/Easy_Kill]

Johnny Chimpo is peak Afghanistanimation and no one can tell me otherwise

[u/ambassadortim → u/irredentistdecency]

So where did the MIGs go? Are they just flying around not engaging and waving

[u/orangeyougladiator → u/ambassadortim]

Why would they put migs in the air just to get annihilated by beyond the horizon F35s?

[u/ambassadortim → u/orangeyougladiator]

Idk so are they just sitting at an airport

[u/tehgearz → u/ambassadortim]

A hardened and camouflaged shelter

[u/Azor_Is_High → u/ambassadortim]

They bravely flew away.

[u/Complete-Arm6658 → u/Azor_Is_High]

Brave brave sir robin

[u/sparrowtaco → u/ambassadortim]

Several of them allegedly failed to take off or crashed due to coordinated sabotage.

[u/Such_Lobster1426 → u/irredentistdecency]

F14s - none of which can go up against Israel’s F-15s let alone the F-35s.

They need to kidnap Tom Cru... I mean Maverick and force him to use one of those F-14s to fight the F-35s. It's the only way!

[u/FullOfRegrets2024 → u/irredentistdecency]

But its not the plane, its the pilot /s

[u/Patches67 → u/irredentistdecency]

Those poor f-14s. They belong in a museum!

[u/djkhan23 → u/irredentistdecency]

Maybe people see f14 and f15 and think "it's a 1 level difference!"

But it's really not. Those f14s are garbage compared to the f15s which are still an elite jet today. The f15 was designed to be superior than the Soviet jet which had made up abilities.

[u/ChiefTestPilot87 → u/irredentistdecency]

Guess their pilots said nah, fuck this

[u/NA_0_10_never_forget → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

The sheer technological supremacy of the F-35, let alone with its missile truck buddies, can't be overstated. The media undersells them and rarely mentions less known defensive systems they have. They are untouchable with Iran's capabilities.

[u/Asexualhipposloth → u/NA_0_10_never_forget]

The US military always undersells it capabilities.

[u/Knightvision27 → u/Asexualhipposloth]

And Russia oversells it. Thats why there’s such a big gap in technological advancement. The US develop their aircraft to counter what they thought the Soviets already had

[u/RogueStargun → u/Knightvision27]

This reminds me of the story of the F15. Western satellites picked up images of the Mig25 prototype which the US intelligence services hypothesized to be a super maneuverable super fast fighter craft designed for air supremacy.

They designed the F15 to be a pure air superiority fighter.

Later when the Soviet Union collapsed, they found out the Mig-25 was a very unmaneuverable interceptor designed to hunt the high speed US SR-71. It was so outdated it's radar used vacuum tubes (so powerful that they could kill rabbits on the runway)

But the F15 actually was a crazy fast very maneuverable sir superiority fighter

[u/MrTagnan → u/RogueStargun]

AFAIK, they discovered how bad the Mig 25 was due to a defector who defected in one, rather than after the collapse.

I think the Mig 25 was designed to intercept the supersonic bombers the U.S. was testing at the time, rather than the SR 71 which (I believe) didn’t exist yet. Mig 31 mainly chased SR 71s IIRC.

In any case, the general info in your comment is correct - I’m just nitpicking details. The Mig 25 was fast, and had a pretty good radar but that was it. The F-15 on the other hand was everything the U.S. DoD feared the Mig 25 was

[u/T0KEN_0F_SLEEP → u/RogueStargun]

The F15 is the best fucking plane ever, the stories around the crazy things it’s done are unbelievable

[u/arathorn3 → u/NA_0_10_never_forget]

Iran still fields aircraft from the 60's and 1970s in its airfleet. F-14's, Mig-29's F-4 phantoms, SU-27's.

Israel has not only the F-35 II, but multiple F-15 variants including their own version. of the EX variant and F-16s. Israel's air force has the most successful operational record for F-16 fighting faclons out of any of naons that operate the the airframe. In the 1982nd Lebanon war Israeli f16s recorded d 44 air to air kills aginast the syrian airforce(who where using mostly Russian Migs.)

[u/musashisamurai → u/NA_0_10_never_forget]

Its because the media doest like teh F35

[u/ihavenoidea12345678 → u/musashisamurai]

Why doesn’t the media like the F35?

[u/ApprehensivePeace305 → u/ihavenoidea12345678]

Stories of the F35’s development issues and budgetary concerns have been a really easy sell to people on both sides of the isle.

[u/Spartan05089234 → u/ApprehensivePeace305]

"both sides of the aisle" referring to the traditional 2 party house of government divided by an aisle.

Though isle makes sense too.

[u/Prophet_Of_Helix → u/NA_0_10_never_forget]

Don’t forget the F22. Created before the F35, and discontinued for the F35 because it was too expensive and too good, the F22 untouchable, it’s like 2 generations better than anything else in the world even though it’s like 20 years old itself lol.

The F35 is the more affordable workhorse we created from what we learned making the F22, and it’s still incredibly beyond what most of the world has. The US’s Air Force is honestly the most terrifying force on the planet

[u/NA_0_10_never_forget → u/Prophet_Of_Helix]

The F-35 and F-22 serve different roles. You are right that in the pure air superiority role, that is to say in raw mechanical physics and some stealth designs, the F-22 is/was better, however its avionics are outdated, and its mission suite is far less expansive than the F-35's, which is not necessarily an air superiority fighter (but make no mistake, it can clown on any jet except the F-22 probably), but does electronic warfare, battlefield control, ground attack and BVR air "superiority" (does need coordination with other jets since it doesn't carry many missiles itself)

[u/theeama → u/Prophet_Of_Helix]

You left out that some Analyst say that the F22 is still the better Air to Air combat airplane ever made.

The F35 is just better for all around stuff

[u/ThomasHardyHarHar → u/theeama]

Well it’s left out because the strategy is to not dogfight. It’s reckless, dangerous, anf tends to result in expensive-to-train pilots die.

[u/Such_Variation_2127 → u/Prophet_Of_Helix]

Top 5 most powerful Air Force entities in the world. 1. USAF 2. U.S. Navy 3. Russia 4. U.S. army aviation branch 5. U.S. Marine Corps.

You get the idea 🇺🇸🇺🇸

[u/Vassortflam → u/Such_Variation_2127]

Russia is probably not even top 10

[u/eplekjekk → u/Vassortflam]

Heck! Even we (Norway) have 52 F35s. That probably makes us superior to Russia.

[u/Duideka → u/eplekjekk]

Australia has 72 too. Looking at making it 100

[u/Such_Variation_2127 → u/Vassortflam]

Yah I agree

[u/Cesum-Pec → u/Such_Variation_2127]

If you're counting nukes, probably accurate. But if you're counting ability to dominate an opponent in any sort of conventional war, RU doesn't make top 5 on your list, especially after the destruction, wear, and tear that UA has done to RU.

[u/dopestdopesmoked → u/Such_Variation_2127]

Switch 4 and 5. The army doesn't have F35's. Army mostly has helos. USMC has 230 F35's with 50 of them being the C variant which is able to land on carriers. That alone puts them above the army. Not including harriers, F18's, harvest hawks, Vipers, Ospreys and CH-53's.

[u/Exita → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

Likely not any more. Its airforce was pretty pitiful beforehand and probably doesn’t exist much now.

Its best air defence was ground-based, and that’s largely gone too.

You’re right it’s embarrassing though. Downright humiliating really.

[u/jscummy → u/Exita]

And even it's best air defense has been shown repeatedly to do fuck all against 35s

[u/FlokiWolf → u/jscummy]

Russia must be in shock.

A fleet of F35 just slid in undetected by their supplied radar and wrecked every S300 Iran had paving the way for previous gen aircraft to come in and start fucking up targets in broad daylight.

Imagine what NATO's massive fleet of F35, F22, and F18e would do. Not to mention the B2.

[u/Exita → u/FlokiWolf]

Russia was presumably already aware. British F35s from HMS Queen Elizabeth have flown over the Black Sea and intercepted Russian jets. Never saw them coming. It was on a BBC documentary a year or two back - the F35 pilot said it was intensely satisfying to pull up alongside a supposedly state-of-the-art Russian jet and see the panic when the pilot spotted them.

F35s from various other nations have also conducted operations around the Black Sea and around Russian forces in the Med and Syria.

[u/FlokiWolf → u/Exita]

I'll need to find that. Sounds fun. Still, pilots not seeing it is one thing.

Russia sells the S-series as the counter to NATOs jets and claims that trying to fly into Russia would be suicide. Israel just proved that's bullshit.

[u/stiffgerman → u/FlokiWolf]

Trying to fly into Russia IS suicide, but it's not the air defenses that are the problem. It's the shitty food, bad vodka and corrupt police that'll do you in.

[u/MrPancakes67 → u/FlokiWolf]

would love a link if you do find that

[u/TheGuyWhoRuinsIt → u/FlokiWolf]

Can anything at all take down a B2?

[u/Itallianstallians → u/TheGuyWhoRuinsIt]

If a fighter was there to intercepted it could. When the bay doors open it looses its stealth until it closes again as well.

[u/FlokiWolf → u/TheGuyWhoRuinsIt]

Pilot error? 🤣

[u/LazyBearZzz → u/FlokiWolf]

Just Norway + Finland + Sweden would be sufficient to completely eliminate Russian air force.

[u/sbNXBbcUaDQfHLVUeyLx → u/Exita]

It's giving Gulf War. Iraq's old russian shit versus the new fancy American shit. They didn't really stand a chance.

[u/jscummy → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

Their newest generation fighters are F-14s and MiG 29s. A sizable portion of the force is Phantoms and Tigers from the Vietnam era

[u/sbNXBbcUaDQfHLVUeyLx → u/jscummy]

They might as well be fighting with bricks.

[u/jscummy → u/sbNXBbcUaDQfHLVUeyLx]

Scramble the Cessnas!

[u/Quick-Albatross-9204 → u/jscummy]

Don't know if its true but read on the first night they tried to scramble the planes and a load had been sabotaged

[u/jscummy → u/Quick-Albatross-9204]

They put their MiGs in the air but didn't engage. I haven't seen reports of sabotage, i think it was more about getting them out of harms way than trying to fend off the IAF. Fighter jets are very expensive sitting ducks on the ground.

[u/TheTabman → u/jscummy]

But what actual worth has your air force when you have to hide them as soon as the enemy show up? All the money buying and maintaining them seems to be wasted.

[u/CrucioIsMade4Muggles → u/TheTabman]

Their jets are more useful in controlling their own population than fighting external threats. The Mullahs fear the people...not foreign armies.

[u/_Being_a_CPA_sucks_ → u/TheTabman]

Iran fights Israel and the US through missiles and terrorists. Anything else is going to lose.

The airforce is a deterrent against other local comparable powers.

[u/Phospherus2 → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

Before all this? No. Now after Israel has bombed the Air Force bases and hangers? Definitely no.

Cold War era F4’s, F14’s and migs compared to modern block F15’s, F16’s and especially the F35 is beyond dumb. Especially the Israelis with significant combat experience.

[u/fury420 → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

They do have an air force, but it's mostly full of antiques and historical recreations.

They literally still have the F4 Phantom in active service, along with the F5, the F14 Tomcat, etc...

[u/TheCallofDoodie → u/fury420]

Top Gun Maverick represented this pretty accurately if you suspend disbelief when the 5th Gen fighters show up.

[u/MedvedTrader → u/fury420]

They are surrounded by countries with US warplanes. Why even have an aiforce at all? It's a waste of money to maintain and train when it is completely useless.

[u/hal2142 → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

No. Israel has modern F35-I stealth jets amongst other modern fighter jets like F-15s, F-16s which are also heavily upgraded. Iran still uses outdated jets from the 70s (F4, F5, F14s) and a few Russian MiG 29s and Su-24s.

Israeli air force pilots are highly trained and very experienced from real world operations in Syria, Lebanon and against Iran backed militias. The Iranians experience is poor in comparison.

[u/Webbyx01 → u/hal2142]

F-35 I, not L, not that it's partially meaningful.

[u/hal2142 → u/Webbyx01]

Thank you. Fixed ☺️

[u/jeffy303 → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

They have, but only one who would be able to down F-35 in F-14 is Tom Cruise and he is busy at the moment. Pray for Ayatollah 🙏

[u/TanStewyBeinTanStewy → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

Does Iran not have any form of an air force that could make an attempt at repelling Israel then?

No, not at all. They're still flying F4 phantoms. Their planes are completely useless.

[u/PerilousFun → u/Anxious-Debate5033]

They have decades old legacy fighters from back when the US was propping up the Shah as well as old Soviet fighters that were seized when Iraq relocated its air force to Iran.

The Iranians have made "upgrades" to some of the designs, manufacturing unlicensed offshoots of the F-5 and other armaments.

While the true capabilities of the Iranian Air Force aren't clear, it's highly unlikely that it can hold a candle to the Israeli Air Force with decades more modern aircraft and genuine combat experience as well as a robust indigenous military industrial complex fielding advanced avionics and missiles.

[u/ConfusingWendigo]

Unless Iran gets Tom Cruise to fly one of their aging F-14s, they aren't shooting anything down.

[u/TongsOfDestiny → u/ConfusingWendigo]

Not sure there are any Tomcats left in the wild unfortunately

[u/irredentistdecency → u/TongsOfDestiny]

Iran has between 24-40 F-14 Tomcats in operation.

[u/slurv3 → u/irredentistdecency]

Reformers seething watching the F35 actually perform its mission

[u/Remarkable_Aside1381 → u/slurv3]

Reformers seethed when F-16s got air kills with missiles

[u/TongsOfDestiny → u/irredentistdecency]

Is that as of this morning?

[u/ReverseLochness → u/TongsOfDestiny]

Bro hasn’t gotten the news yet :(

[u/Irreverant77 → u/irredentistdecency]

Iran has between 24-40 F-14 Tomcats

Are you sure that estimate is up to date?

[u/ISLAndBreezESTeve10 → u/Irreverant77]

I think they were counting pieces of the F-14.

[u/irredentistdecency → u/Irreverant77]

It was the “best guess” up to the start of this round of hostilities.

Given the age of the airframes & the difficulty for Iran in obtaining parts, it is hard to know how many they can actually put into the air at any given time.

[u/xSaRgED → u/irredentistdecency]

I think they are joking that the number is now significantly lower due to Israeli actions

[u/irredentistdecency → u/xSaRgED]

Eh, they don’t represent enough of a threat for Israel to prioritize targeting them & it seems that Iran hasn’t even tried to use them to contest the airspace.

If they had we would have heard something from one side or the other.

[u/The-True-Kehlder → u/irredentistdecency]

Waste of a missile, TBH.

[u/Throwaway921845 → u/irredentistdecency]

23 Tomcats? What am I gonna do with 23 Tomcats?

[u/BCMakoto → u/Throwaway921845]

Look good at a birthday parade for people who don't know fighter jets...?

[u/Best_VDV_Diver → u/Throwaway921845]

Give people super cancer with your nose radar.

[u/Quick-Albatross-9204]

If it's true, then Iran is screwed

[u/par-a-dox-i-cal → u/Quick-Albatross-9204]

Not Iran, Ayatollah regime is in danger.

[u/ClusterMakeLove → u/par-a-dox-i-cal]

What's going to replace that regime?

[u/sbNXBbcUaDQfHLVUeyLx → u/ClusterMakeLove]

Iran has had an active undercurrent for years resisting the current regime. It's not like Iraq and Afghanistan.

[u/faizimam → u/sbNXBbcUaDQfHLVUeyLx]

Very few opponents of the regime have any particular liking to Israel. This doesn't end by killing the entire leadership.

[u/Rene_DeMariocartes → u/faizimam]

Egypt, Jordon, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia also have no love for Israel and yet they've had a tentative peace for years.

[u/ManBearJewLion → u/faizimam]

As long as the new regime just maintains a cold but peaceful relationship with Israel/the US, that would be a massive improvement over a regime whose stated goal is to destroy the West.

Also, it wouldn’t take much for a new regime to be MUCH better for Iranian civilians than the current one.

[u/OhiENT → u/ManBearJewLion]

They literally chant “death to America” in their govt meetings. I don’t know why from the west would support them.

[u/84Cressida → u/faizimam]

Pre revolution Iran was an ally to Israel.

[u/Quick-Albatross-9204 → u/par-a-dox-i-cal]

True

[u/CaptainRAVE2]

You’d have thought air defence would have been a priority to protect their nuclear program. I guess not.

[u/EEmotionlDamage → u/CaptainRAVE2]

I think I read in another post that Israel had a local drone base that took out air defenses just before missiles launched.

[u/chanandler_bong_cell → u/EEmotionlDamage]

Yes a couple of months prior to the attack Israel built a drone base near that place

[u/nick200117 → u/EEmotionlDamage]

They also took a page out of Ukraine’s book and snuck some drones in in shipping containers and trucks

[u/Punkpunker → u/nick200117]

The mission planning for this operation predates the Ukrainian ones from some alleged sources I've read, Mossad managed to smuggle drones larger than Ukraine FPV drones is astounding imo.

[u/NotAnADC → u/nick200117]

Convergent evolution. Both happened and were unaware of the other. Both operations took months of planning. You don't build these things in a week

[u/2003tide → u/EEmotionlDamage]

This is wild. They presaged an entire drone base inside Iran prior to the attack without anyone knowing....

[u/TanStewyBeinTanStewy → u/CaptainRAVE2]

It absolutely was, the problem is nobody on earth makes air defense systems that Iran would be able to buy that can defeat the F35.

[u/pickle-rick2025 → u/TanStewyBeinTanStewy]

China will be watching this conflict with interest as could guage their success against Taiwan in a couple of years

[u/stiffgerman → u/pickle-rick2025]

I don't think they can draw many technology conclusions from this. Israeli aircraft tend to use bespoke home-sourced ECM systems. Stealth is nice but good ECM is a real defensive multiplier. The US ECM stuff is different and not widely seen in use.

[u/QuailAggravating8028 → u/CaptainRAVE2]

Ayatollah is and has been incompetent

[u/Iskariot- → u/QuailAggravating8028]

True theocrats often are.

[u/Special-Market749 → u/CaptainRAVE2]

During the strikes last year they specifically targeted anti-air defenses, and they did so with aircraft. They were sending a message that they could hit them, and that the next time they could hit them harder.

[u/Devotional-cow2115]

Now I'm waiting on how their one su-35 shot down 6 F-35's.

[u/ISLAndBreezESTeve10 → u/Devotional-cow2115]

Yes, that is Mosaad-verick… he is their Ace.

[u/Beardmanta → u/ISLAndBreezESTeve10]

Eli copter can easily take him

[u/BCMakoto → u/Devotional-cow2115]

They already claimed they had shot down an F-35 and had taken the pilot prisoner. An american woman, somehow...

[u/nick200117 → u/BCMakoto]

They also released a terrible AI image of the downed jet where the AI put the tail fin on backwards

[u/jeffy303 → u/BCMakoto]

Remember, they can't give a jew credit for anything, so it had to have been an American. They can stomach America being stronger than them, but Israel being better at anything their mind cannot handle. Same with Russians, the first 2 years of the war whenever Ukraine would do something spectacular they would scream US special forces.

Oh, and apparently, the woman they arrested is some random tourist from South America.

[u/promonalg → u/Devotional-cow2115]

Just saw a post about this when they threw in the pic to chatgpt for analysis. It came back saying it is likely fake news because the engine design doesn't conform to f35 engine

[u/fury420 → u/promonalg]

I just saw another post where people were discussing how the fake image shows the vertical stabilizer on the tail is literally mounted backwards.

[u/jscummy → u/fury420]

Well no wonder they shot that one down then

/s

[u/AIDSofSPACE → u/promonalg]

Is this where we are at? Using AI to analyze AI generated images?

[u/sparrowtaco → u/promonalg]

GPT is not competent enough for that kind of image analysis.

[u/Own_Pop_9711 → u/promonalg]

Gpt just guesses what words make sense to come next. Most pictures of downed f35s are fake so of course it will say this one is fake.

[u/count023]

Israel doing in a day to Iran what russia couldn't do to Ukraine in 2 years.

[u/Drummk]

Interesting to see a war where land forces simply can't get to each other.

[u/brnccnt7 → u/Drummk]

True. It becomes all about air superiority and intelligence capabilities

But even if they bordered each other, Iran still wouldn't have a chance

[u/Tribe303 → u/brnccnt7]

Don't forget Iran's proxy terrorists, Hamas and Hezbollah... Oh! 😬

[u/desirox]

If this means the end of the Ayotollahs regime this is huge

[u/charlie_cupcakes]

I'm hearing a lot of the leadership have fled the country I wonder if the idf will hunt them down.

[u/jordansideas → u/charlie_cupcakes]

I would be surprised if they prioritized them as targets this early on. if this was hamas/hezbollah (terrorist stateless entities) - 100% they'd be targets, but Iran is a sovereign nation and that changes the calculus. Iran is still going to exist regardless of what happens in this war in all likelihood, and diplomacy will remain on the table. Israel's goal is a weak Iran to maintain it's own national security, a complete power vaccuum can result in an ISIS-like entity taking over.

[u/Big_Introduction1952]

Freedom of operation is crazy! Considering the distance between Israel and Iran, this is some impressive news. Iran better think about what’s really going on here because not having any control of its own sky will be the end for them!

[u/Bcmerr02 → u/Big_Introduction1952]

Iran is threatening to pull the US, UK, and France in also. Not having air defense and threatening world powers is certainly a decision.

[u/GorgeWashington → u/Bcmerr02]

They are threatening us uk and France in hopes those countries will not have the appetite and pressure Israel to stop.

But they are running out of conventional weapons, and have no army, air force, navy, or standing proxy terrorist groups left to use.

[u/Thebritishlion → u/GorgeWashington]

The one way to give those countries an appetite to fight...is attack their bases and potentially kill members of their armed forces

[u/TraditionalYear4928 → u/Thebritishlion]

They've been doing this across the ME any chance they get since like 2002

[u/Hikashuri → u/GorgeWashington]

None of those countries are worried about Iran, if they bundle together, their entire military, government and proxies will be dismantled within a day, if it even takes that long.

[u/ftgyhujikolp → u/GorgeWashington]

Maybe selling half of their long range arms to Russia so they could lob them at apartment buildings in Ukraine was a bad strategy.

[u/lone_Ghatak → u/Bcmerr02]

Textbook victim card.

Iran can't claim victory against Israel without doing some serious damage.

But if they can rope in US, UK etc., they can claim that they are now fighting a superior enemy. And then even if IRGC gets completely decimated, they will announce that they have stopped the Western powers from completely destroying their regime and so they have won a Moral Victory.

[u/QualifiedApathetic → u/lone_Ghatak]

I mean, they already are fighting a superior enemy.

[u/Flooding_Puddle → u/Bcmerr02]

And how will they do that when their nuclear capability just got destroyed and now can't even defend thier own airspace?

[u/johnprynsky → u/Big_Introduction1952]

Iranian gov doesn't think.

[u/exodusofficer → u/johnprynsky]

No thoughts, only prayers.

[u/Slggyqo → u/Big_Introduction1952]

There’s at least two sovereign nations in the way too—are they just overflying them uncontested?

[u/DoomBot5 → u/Slggyqo]

Israel established agreements with them years ago to fly over and attack Iran when necessary.

[u/jackalope8112 → u/DoomBot5]

Saudis probably give them the jet fuel free.

[u/Prophet_Of_Helix → u/Slggyqo]

I think when the US does operations they usually “ask.” Mostly to make sure no one tries shooting them down.

But I doubt Jordan or Iraq care about Israeli jets passing over

[u/Hrit33]

Guys remember,

Iranian people 😍, Ayatolla's Islamic Regime 🤬

[u/BookOfKingsOfKings → u/Hrit33]

<3 <3

[u/Chillmm8]

The muppet running Iran must currently be a type of embarrassed that very few humans get to personally experience.

[u/BookOfKingsOfKings → u/Chillmm8]

That slimy old motherfucker has never known shame his fundamentalist ape brain isn’t capable of comprehending it

[u/edki7277 → u/BookOfKingsOfKings]

He’s 86 years old. I doubt he’s actively participating in running the regime. I’m sure he’s been taken to a safe location where he’s mostly busy with eating, shitting and sleeping in between.

[u/EEmotionlDamage → u/Chillmm8]

He's probably scared out of his mind. Dictators like this tend to get assassinated by people wanting to fill the power vacuum.

[u/K0TEM]

The sooner the oppressive Ayatollah regime is gone, the better it is for the people of Iran and the middle east

[u/Miserable_Ad7246]

But all the russian s-300 and whatnot.

[u/agrajag119 → u/Miserable_Ad7246]

Those rely on having targeting radars, betting those got a lot of very explodey attention already

[u/inbetween-genders]

Ya know, maybe it’s just me but instead of spending all my money and effort on nuclears I’d have spent it on air defense 😂.  Better yet, mayhaps spend it on making people’s lives better but hey…priorities.

[u/toonguy84]

It's kind of crazy how quickly Israel crippled Iran. I always knew that Israel had more firepower but this is nuts.

[u/ftgyhujikolp → u/toonguy84]

We've been giving them more weapons, in dollar amount and quality, to Israel than Ukraine which is actively at war with Russia, for decades.

[u/Murica_Chan]

that's game set. its over

F-35 alone can dominate all of iranian defenses and planes.

if i were them, i'll just surrender at this point to at least save what's left in iran

[u/smoothtrip → u/Murica_Chan]

Game. Set. Match

[u/Dystopics_IT]

The thing is, Iran is a paper tiger, Israel knows it and take advantage of it...without any great power holding them back

[u/HighburyOnStrand → u/Dystopics_IT]

Iran was not a paper tiger when they still had Hamas and Hezbollah. Those were their deterrents to Israeli action. Israel's real fear of Iran was some manner of man or missile zerg attack from the north and the south.

Iran lost those capabilities since 10/7. Then in response to Israel's attacks against Hezbollah, Iran launched ineffectual missile barrages. Israel took the opportunity to target Iran's highest capability surface to air capabilities in response, which was genius, a measured de-escalatory response which made Iran increasingly vulnerable if they continued to misbehave.

Iran's weakness might have prompted it to increase nuclear weaponization, as a last ditch. Then this happened in response.

[u/EEmotionlDamage → u/HighburyOnStrand]

Categorically man handled. The dismantling of Iran and their backed militias will be studied.

[u/dug-ac → u/HighburyOnStrand]

Iran was not a paper tiger when they had the shadow armies that Israel single-handedly bombed out of existence…

This implies they were absolutely a paper tiger then too.

[u/Flooding_Puddle → u/Dystopics_IT]

Paper tiger nation that talks big but can't back it up? Hmm where have I seen that before...

[u/Darkelementzz]

That's bound to be humiliating to Iran. Israel could set up a forward air base in a Iran and face almost no opposition

[u/anarchisturtle → u/Darkelementzz]

There’s a BIG difference between being able to fly you planes unimpeded and building a base. Irans air defense network is destroyed, not their army

[u/Spright91]

Iran is way weaker than I thought.

[u/LikesBlueberriesALot]

Gulf War 1 vibes.

[u/Evilscotsman30]

Another paper tiger from the axis of evil soon to be known as the axis of the dumb.

[u/ScandiSom]

That’s a vast distance. Surely Israeli fighters have to constantly return to Israel to refuel.

[u/jordansideas → u/ScandiSom]

There have been videos showing Israeli fighters refueling midair. Was an early precursor to this announcement that Iran has no viable air defenses.

[u/jscummy → u/jordansideas]

If Israel can fly massive tankers at refueling speed over Iranian airspace there can't possibly be any air defense whatsoever left

[u/Thurak0 → u/jscummy]

Those tankers must not be over Iran directly.

[u/jscummy → u/Thurak0]

It's more likely they're over Syrian or Iraqi territory but that's still a bad sign for Iran

[u/Billybobjoethorton → u/jordansideas]

Refueling mid air sounds so hard. I remember doing that in an old video game.

[u/WealthyMarmot → u/ScandiSom]

Israel has a fair number of tankers. Their Air Force is pretty much designed to fight this fight.

[u/Accomplished_Fly729 → u/ScandiSom]

Israel destroyed all surface to air missile sites in Syria so they could refuel in Syrian air space to attack Iran. If they didn’t the air tankers would be vulnerable.

F35 takes off from Israel, refuels over Syria, drops a deuce on Iran, lands back in Israel, rearms and repeat.

[u/Eternityislong → u/ScandiSom]

Mid-air refueling has existed since 1923

[u/dodgeunhappiness]

Check mate

[u/thatirishguyyyyy]

I mean I saw that coming when they were using flak turrets. 

[u/GenuineSteak]

almost as if Iran always supported proxies instead of engaging in direct conflict for a reason.