Iran marks army day, shows off fighter jets

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran showcased its domestically made fighter jets by flying the aircraft over Tehran during a military parade Thursday marking National Army Day as the country grapples with U.S. sanctions and the President Donald Trump administration’s recent terrorism designation of Iran’s powerful paramilitary force.

TV footage showed the aircraft performing during the parade, including the latest all-Iranian fighter jet dubbed Kowsar, which in Islamic meaning refers to a river in paradise and is also the title of a chapter in the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

The Islamic Republic often announces military achievements that cannot be independently verified to boost patriotism. The United States reimposed sanctions on Iran, including on its energy sector, in November, after Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

The twin-seated Kowsar — modeled after the American F-5 fighter jet — was inaugurated in 2018, when TV aired images of President Hassan Rouhani briefly sitting in the plane’s cockpit inside a hangar before the ceremony.

The parade also showcased the Saegheh, or “Thunderbolt,” another domestically built fighter in Iran’s air force, which already has U.S.-made F-4, F-5 as well as F-14 fighter jets and also Russian-made Sukhoi aircraft in service.

During Thursday’s event, the air force also paraded Iranian battlefield personnel carriers, machine guns, tanks, transport vehicles and Iranian-made Talash as well as Russian-made S-300 missile systems.

Rouhani reviewed the parade, flanked by several Revolutionary Guard commanders, and offered praise for both the army and the Revolutionary Guard forces.