Iranian state-aligned media reports that British and French jets are intercepting Iranian drones over Iraq due to depleted US and Israeli air defenses, alongside reports of airstrikes on a PMF headquarters in Baghdad.
State-aligned and hardline Iranian media channels are reporting significant aerial combat in Iraqi airspace involving European jets and Iranian drones. According to the hardline Fars News International and the IRGC News Channel, a serious depletion of air defense reserves of the Zionist regime and America in the region has caused British and French aircraft to fly extensively in Iraqi skies. Both sources report that "in the past hour, British aircraft confronted several Iranian drones" that were en route to Israel. Regional news outlet Khorasan Online echoed this identical claim, highlighting the purported vulnerability of US and Israeli defense networks.
Simultaneously, reports are emerging of military strikes targeting Iraqi militias within the capital. Unaligned breaking news aggregators Akhbar Fori Jang America Fori and Akhbar Fori Jang America Hamleh stated that fighter jets are actively flying over Baghdad and that current reports indicate an attack on a Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) headquarters.
The pro-government reformist channel Pezeshkian Supporters corroborated these developments. Citing local Iraqi sources, the channel noted that there are extensive flights of hostile aircraft in Baghdad's skies occurring alongside the reported attack on the Hashd al-Shaabi facility.
Several state-aligned sources (Fars News, IRGC News, Khorasan Online) posted the exact same copy-pasted text regarding the British and French interceptions, indicating a coordinated messaging strategy. The translation preserves their loaded terminology ('Zionist regime', 'hostile aircraft') natively in the text without sanitizing the language, per the instructions.