On June 14, 2025, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that Iran's air defense system had successfully shot down another Israeli F-35 fighter jet over the country's western skies during the ongoing conflict with Israel. According to the agency, the pilot of the jet ejected, but his fate remains unknown and is being investigated. The announcement followed the debunking of a previous report of an F-35 shootdown published by the Mehr news agency as a fake created by artificial intelligence. The new incident has raised doubts about the veracity of the information, given the lack of independent confirmation and the context of an information war.

The conflict between Israel and Iran escalated on the night of June 13, when Israel launched Operation Lion Rising, striking more than 100 targets, including the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, the nuclear facility in Isfahan and the IRGC headquarters in Tehran. According to Reuters, about 200 fighter jets, including F-35s, F-16s and F-15s, were involved in the attacks, which killed 78 people, including IRGC commander Hossein Salami, and wounded 329. The IAEA confirmed radiation contamination at the Natanz site, but radiation levels outside the facility are normal. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied the loss of the F-35, saying all the jets had returned to base and that the Iranian reports were propaganda.

Iran responded with Operation True Promise 3, firing 150-200 ballistic missiles, including hypersonic Fatah-1s, at Israel. According to The Jerusalem Post, four people were killed in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Beersheba, 91 were injured, and the Kiryat military headquarters was damaged. Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israeli air defenses and the US Patriot and THAAD systems. Iranian media previously claimed to have shot down two F-35s, but the first report of a photo of the wreckage, published by Mehr, was debunked as an AI-generated image due to inconsistencies in the fuselage design and the lack of signs of fire.

Tasnim's new claim of shooting down an F-35 is not accompanied by evidence, raising skepticism.