Before dawn over the Arabian Sea, a U.S. Navy F-35C launched from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and climbed into the night. It carried no bombs. It wasn’t leading a strike package. It wasn’t there to start a war.

It was there to provoke a reaction.

The mission, according to reconstructed reporting from defense sources and open-source analysis, was a high-risk intelligence probe. Iran had recently lost an F-4 Phantom under circumstances that raised quiet suspicions in Washington. Radar patterns along the coast had changed. Signals traffic between Iranian air bases had spiked. Something had shifted inside Iran’s air defense network.

To understand what had changed, the United States needed Iran to reveal it.

So a stealth aircraft crossed into a corridor where it would be noticed — but not easily targeted. High above, a U.S. RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft orbited silently, waiting to capture every radar pulse, every encrypted transmission, every fire-control emission Iran would activate in response.

At 04:12, the trap was set.

Within minutes of the F-35 edging into Iranian radar coverage, activity surged at Bandar Abbas air base. Six F-4E Phantom II fighters — Cold War-era aircraft heavily upgraded over decades — launched in pairs.

Their mission was clear: intercept the unknown contact.

The F-4 is a legend of 20th-century air combat. First flown in the 1950s, it is powerful, fast, and rugged. Iran’s fleet has survived sanctions through domestic engineering ingenuity, modernization programs, and careful maintenance. But even upgraded, it remains a fourth-generation platform confronting a fifth-generation adversary.

The Iranian pilots executed textbook intercept geometry. They split into bracketing formations, attempting to box in the F-35’s last known position. Ground radars switched from search mode to acquisition. Fire-control systems activated.

Every emission was captured.

The F-35, meanwhile, maneuvered subtly. Small heading changes. Controlled speed adjustments. Minimal exposure — just enough to keep the intercept alive.

Then came the first radar lock.

When an F-4’s fire-control radar locks onto a target, the pilot hears a distinct tone. For any combat aviator, that tone sharpens the world instantly.

One Iranian Phantom achieved lock for several seconds before losing it as the F-35 maneuvered and deployed countermeasures. Another locked again shortly after.

Then, in a move that elevated the stakes dramatically, one F-4 launched an R-60 infrared missile.

The missile did not come close to striking the F-35. By most assessments, the geometry made a successful intercept unlikely from the start. The stealth aircraft had already altered position and energy state. Within moments, it accelerated away toward international airspace.

But the missile’s flight mattered less tactically than strategically.

Because it had been fired.

Iranian state media later described the event as a successful interception. A stealth aircraft detected. Fighters scrambled. A warning missile fired. The intruder retreating.

Domestically, that narrative works.