New Delhi: In a dramatic twist on the 36th day of the raging Iran-US-Israel conflict, Tehran has stunned Washington with a bold new war playbook.
Despite heavy American and Israeli airstrikes that supposedly “destroyed” its missile network, Iran has rebuilt key launch sites in mere hours and is now hitting back harder than ever — downing US F-16s and other jets while a missing American pilot remains untraceable deep inside Iranian territory.
Iranian forces claim they have shot down multiple American aircraft, including F-16 fighters, F-15E Strike Eagles, a KC-135 tanker and an MQ-9 Reaper drone, right when President Donald Trump had repeatedly boasted that Iran’s air defences were finished.
Adding to Washington’s embarrassment, one US pilot has been missing since Friday.
Iranian authorities have even announced a reward for anyone who helps locate him, turning the search into a high-stakes drama.
The strikes have spread panic across the Gulf. Israeli cities from Tel Aviv to Haifa and Jerusalem faced waves of missiles and drones, some carrying cluster munitions that wrecked residential buildings and a major drone factory. In Kuwait, the massive Mina Al Ahmad refinery is still burning after Iranian attacks that involved over 650 drones and 300 missiles. Bahrain too reported civilian areas damaged near US bases, exposing cracks in American air-defence systems.
Yet Iran refuses to bend. US-Israeli retaliation hit near the Bushehr nuclear plant, border zones in Ahvaz and even parts of Tehran, but Iranian operatives have already restored bunkers and silos with astonishing speed. In a clever shift, the Revolutionary Guards are now hiding missiles in Kurdish border villages, moving them at night in ordinary containers and running operations from mobile command centres. Decoy launchers are confusing enemy radars, leaving US intelligence scratching its head.
What began as Trump’s show of air power is fast turning into a tense test of Iran’s resilience, one that has the Pentagon watching every shadow. The message from Tehran is clear: this fight is far from over.