Iran confirmed that Mehdi Firoozmand was killed in a nighttime training accident on 19 Feb 2026 when a two-seat F-4 Phantom II crashed in Hamadan, Iran, after taking off from Shahid Nojeh Air Base.

The Iranian F-4 fleet is over 40 years old. Despite periodic upgrades, the Cold War-era jets have long since fallen into obsolescence relative to modern fighters. However, the fact that Iran has ...