Propaganda moves faster than radar. When the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that a ballistic missile barrage had smashed into Jordan's Al Azraq Air Base, turning three American F 35 stealth fighters into scrap metal, state media outlets across Tehran ran the story within minutes. It sounded like a massive tactical shift. It made global headlines.
There was just one catch. It never happened.
The United States Central Command, known as CENTCOM, hit back with a flat rebuttal, stating that no American aircraft were destroyed or damaged. Every incoming missile and drone was either intercepted or missed its mark entirely. Yet in modern warfare, the physical blast is only half the battle. The digital information war runs simultaneously, and Tehran's claims tell us a lot about what the regime desperately needs the public to believe.
Anatomy of a Fabricated Strike
The IRGC narrative relied on specific, high-value targets to maximize psychological impact. According to Iranian state broadcasts, the strike on Al Azraq Air Base didn't just wreck three F 35 Lightning II jets; it supposedly heavily damaged three other aircraft and killed several technical personnel and officers.
If true, that would mark one of the worst single-day operational losses for American air assets in the region in decades. F 35 fighters represent the pinnacle of Western stealth technology. Losing them on the tarmac in Jordan would shatter the illusion of invincibility surrounding the platform.
That is precisely why Tehran picked them.
When you want to project strength after absorbing retaliatory strikes—such as recent U.S. operations targeting IRGC positions on Qeshm Island—you don't claim to hit a warehouse. You claim to destroy the crown jewels.
The Reality on the Ground in Jordan
Look past the press releases and look at the physical mechanics of regional air defense. Jordan's armed forces reported intercepting and downing multiple missiles launched toward their territory during that same window, marking consecutive days of active defense over the kingdom.
When air defense systems engage ballistic threats miles away from high-value flight lines, debris fields happen. But tracking data, satellite telemetry, and military intelligence feeds don't back up the catastrophic tarmac wipeout claimed by the IRGC. CENTCOM's assertion that the defensive umbrella held strong lines up with how modern integrated air and missile defense networks operate in contested airspace.
Military analysts point out that a strike of the magnitude claimed by Tehran would leave undeniable open-source intelligence footprints. Commercial satellite imagery providers routinely capture high-resolution before-and-after shots of military installations. If multi-million-dollar stealth jets burned on a Jordanian flight ramp, the evidence would be visible from space within hours. No such proof has surfaced because the jets are safely flying missions elsewhere.
The Broader Information War
This isn't happening in a vacuum. The F 35 claim was just one piece of a broader package of falsehoods pushed by Iranian state media during the same news cycle.
CENTCOM singled out three major narrative pushbacks:
- The false claim regarding the destroyed F 35 jets in Jordan.
- The fabricated report that an oil tanker named the M/T Nora successfully breached the U.S. naval blockade in the Gulf.
- Continued warnings that the Strait of Hormuz is unsafe due to U.S. actions, when intelligence and audio intercepts point directly to IRGC threats against commercial shipping.
Each of these claims serves a domestic political audience in Iran. They project an image of an active, defiant military striking back against a superpower, even as economic blockades tighten and regional assets take heavy hits.
Why This Matters Moving Forward
We are watching a war fought with both kinetic hardware and psychological operations. When state actors routinely invent victories, it becomes harder for regional populations to gauge the actual stability of conflict zones.
The U.S. military keeps over twenty warships, hundreds of aircraft, and thousands of service members locked into posture across the region to enforce security corridors and protect partner nations. Tehran's claims about destroyed jets are designed to create friction between Washington and its regional allies like Jordan and Kuwait, sowing doubt about whether hosting American military assets brings more risk than reward.
Don't expect the propaganda to stop. As long as economic pressures mount and military exchanges continue, state-run media outlets will keep manufacturing battlefield wins out of thin air.
Check the sources. Look for verification. And remember that online victory claims from besieged regimes are usually designed for domestic consumption, not reality.
