TEHRAN Aug 18, 2026 — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that its forces have shot down more than 200 “enemy aircraft” since the beginning of the ongoing war with the United States and Israel.
Major General Mostafa Izadi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, made the statement during a ceremony honoring journalists. He described the fighting as a “hybrid war” in which adversaries sought to destabilize Iran both internally and through military operations.
“The number of enemy aircraft that have been shot down following our endeavours in the soft and cognitive domains alone has exceeded 200,” Izadi said, according to Iranian state media outlets including Fars News and Mehr News Agency.
He added that Iran had managed the conflict while spending only “one-hundredth” of the amount expended by its enemies, and that the Islamic Republic had emerged stronger and more determined. “The Islamic Republic of Iran not only did not disintegrate, and the Islamic system was not weakened; on the contrary, the Islamic Republic demonstrated that it is stronger and more determined in Iran than ever before,” Izadi stated.
Iranian officials have previously displayed wreckage they identify as parts from U.S. and Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles, including MQ-9 Reaper drones and Israeli Hermes 900 systems. Tehran has also claimed that a redesigned, decentralized air-defense command network allowed its systems to remain operational despite sustained attacks, with more than 85 percent of air-defense production infrastructure reportedly intact.
The claim comes amid what Iranian sources call the “US-Israel-imposed war” that began in late February 2026. According to those accounts, the conflict involved the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior commanders, followed by Iranian counterattacks. A further escalation occurred on July 8, when U.S. forces launched strikes on Iranian territory after the expiration of a ceasefire memorandum; President Donald Trump announced the termination of the ceasefire that day. Iran responded with attacks on U.S. facilities in several Gulf states and has claimed to have closed the Strait of Hormuz.
The IRGC’s figure of more than 200 aircraft has not been independently verified by outside observers or Western military sources. Earlier Iranian reports during the conflict had cited lower numbers, such as around 170 intercepted drones and other aircraft.
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