If war breaks out, American forces likely will attempt to secure Gulf air space by destroying or suppressing Iran’s air forces. The IRIAF’s 1970s-vintage F-14s could be U.S. forces’ first targets.
In 2007, U.S. agents even seized four intact ex-U.S. Navy F-14s in California three at museums and one belonging to a producer on the military-themed T.V. show JAG.
U.S. lawmakers passed a bill specifically banning any trade in Tomcat components to Iran or any other entity, and then-president George W. Bush signed the law in 2008.
These jets have been upgraded and maintained as precious semi-modern weapons.
Key point: Iran knows its weapons are out-of-date. However, it also knows it should keep and improve what U.S.-built planes and systems it still has.
Tensions have escalated in the Persian Gulf region in the aftermath of U.S. president Donald Trump’s decision unilaterally to withdraw the United States from the agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. military has implicated Iranian agents in several summer 2019 attacks on civilian ships sailing near Iran. The U.S. Navy sent the aircraft carrier USS
Abraham Lincoln and her strike group to the region. The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers and F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.