Iran Is Still Flying These American-Built Fighter Jets Decades Later
Ongoing fighting in Iran is giving the world a look at what the country's current military hardware looks like. As one would expect, there is a fair amount of Russian and Soviet-era technology, including MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets like the MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-30. Additionally, Iran constructs most of its own ballistic missiles and drones.
For the people who are just taking a look at what Iran is flying, it may seem odd that there are some American-made planes in Iran's inventory, as Iran and the U.S. have been politically opposed for decades.
Aviation enthusiasts especially may notice that F-14 Tomcats, F-5 Tigers, and F-4 Phantom IIs have made an occasional appearance in both conversations online and in footage from the ongoing war. The F-4 Phantom II saw extensive service in the Vietnam War. The F-14, of "Top Gun" fame, of course went out of service with the United States in 2006 after having served continually since the closing years of the Vietnam War in 1973.
How are the jets still flying?
SlashGear has reported on how Iran got a hold of Tomcats and its extensive operational history during the Iran-Iraq War.
Now, several decades after the war and more than 50 years after the Tomcat first entered service, Iran still fields the plane. Concrete information about how the planes are maintained and whether or not most of them are even airworthy is hard to come by. As late as 2007, Iran was able to still buy surplus F-14 parts until American lawmakers banned the sale of technology they deemed sensitive. The United States even went through great effort to destroy remaining parts. Since then, it has relied on smuggling and the black market. Plus, given the high-profile nature of the plane itself, parked Tomcats and Phantoms have a high likelihood of being targeted or destroyed during Israeli and American sorties.
However, Global Security, a defense-related think tank, reported that Iran had as many as 43 Tomcats and 60 Phantom IIs in its inventory as of 2025. It is unknown how many have been destroyed since.