A US Air Force F-35A stealth fighter was damaged by suspected Iranian fire during a combat mission over central Iran on March 19, US Central Command confirmed.

The incident marks the first time Iran has struck a US aircraft since the war began on February 28, and the first known battle damage to an F-35 since the $100mn fifth-generation jet entered service in 2015.

"The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition. This incident is under investigation," CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said.

Iran's IRGC claimed full credit, saying its aerospace force air defence systems struck the jet at approximately 2.50am local time using what it described as domestically developed technology.

The IRGC said the aircraft was "seriously damaged" and that the probability of a crash was "high." Iranian state media released video footage purportedly showing the engagement, though it has not been independently verified.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the striking of a US F-35 fighter jet by Iranian air defences marked "the collapse of an order," in a post on X on March 20, Tasnim reported.

"The F-35 was a statue of the arrogance of the American military that was hit for the first time in the world. This was the moment of the collapse of an order," Ghalibaf wrote.

If independently verified as a surface-to-air missile hit, the incident would be the first confirmed battle damage to an F-35 since the aircraft entered US service in 2015 and would challenge assumptions about the vulnerability of stealth technology to Iranian air defences.

The claim came hours after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Iran's air defences had been "flattened" and that the US was "winning decisively."

The US has lost other aircraft during the conflict but none previously to confirmed enemy fire. Three F-15E Strike Eagles were shot down by Kuwaiti air defences in a friendly fire incident, and a KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq, killing all six crew members, in a still-unexplained accident.

An Israeli Air Force fighter was also nearly shot down over Iran early in the conflict, The Times of Israel reported, though the pilot evaded the missile and completed the mission.