The US military deployed 5,000-pound GBU-72 penetrator weapons against Iranian underground coastal defense missile facilities, marking a "profound structural escalation" according to Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Kane.

Simultaneously, Iran's IRGC claimed to have struck a US F-35 over Central Iran at 0250 local time, with US Central Command confirming the aircraft took damage and made an emergency landing, the first verified instance of Iran hitting a US aircraft with surface-to-air munitions since Operation Epic Fury began.

Sources for this episode are available at: https://nbn.fm/war-desk/episode/ep90

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War Desk is an investigative podcast using AI-assisted analysis of military intelligence, diplomatic signals, and conflict data to assess global war risk, with sources and references published on our website for verification.

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