Iran announces production of ‘indigenous’ fighter jet

The Iranian regime maintains it has initiated manufacturing of a domestically produced fighter jet, a craft that was previously ridiculed by Israel as a decades-old U.S. model.

By Associated Press and World Israel News Staff

Iran’s State TV announced Iran inaugurated production of its “domestically produced” fighter jet the “Kowsar” just one day after the Trump administration announced the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran to ramp up economic pressure on the Islamic Republic.

Iran first unveiled the jet in August, claiming it was all Iranian-made with advanced avionics and fire control systems.

Shortly after the the unveiling, experts began exposing the “new” plane’s resemblance to the F-5 fighter jet, which was manufactured by the United States in the 1950s.

“The Iranian regime unveils the Kowsar aircraft and claims [it is a] ‘100% homemade Iranian fighter,” tweeted Ofir Gendelman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arabic language spokesman, adding, “I immediately saw that this is a very old US F-5 warplane (manufactured in the late 1950s).”

The Islamic Republic has a documented history of announcing military achievements that cannot be independently verified.

On Friday, the U.S. announced the re-imposition of additional sanctions on Iran starting Monday, covering Iran’s shipping, financial and energy sectors.

This is the second batch of sanctions the U.S. has instituted against Iran since the U.S. withdrew from a 2015 nuclear accord in May.