An F/A-18F Super Hornet plane, part of Strike Fighter Squadron 213, takes off from the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) aircraft carrier during its operational deployment on March 17, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo)US Navy
Footage distributed via Iranian government media seemingly depicts a missile almost hitting a U.S. F/A-18 warplane in flight over Iran.
In a message posted on X on Thursday, the Iranian state news agency PressTV stated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had "successfully engaged" an F/A-18 operating above Chabahar, Iran. The timing of the purported event remains uncertain.
Video shared by Iranian government-affiliated media, and obtained by ABC News, gives the impression that a U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter barely evaded a surface-to-air missile explosion over Chabahar, Iran, on March 26, 2026.Obtained by ABC News
The videos, whose location has been verified as Chabahar, suggest the U.S. aircraft flew away just after a missile exploded behind it.
There was no discernible damage to the plane visible in the videos.
U.S. Central Command declared in an X post that Iran has not downed any fighter jets. However, a source with knowledge of the matter, while stopping short of confirming the videos’ authenticity, informed ABC News that an F/A-18 in that vicinity did narrowly escape an Iranian surface-to-air missile over southern Iran recently.
Separately, in an unrelated incident from last week, an F-35 stealth fighter conducted an unplanned landing.
An individual familiar with the occurrence indicated that the F-35 was believed to have been impacted by Iranian projectiles, signifying the first instance of an American military plane involved in airborne operations over Iran sustaining a hit.
ABC News' Anne Flaherty helped contribute to this report.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com