Iranian fighter jet crashes near Persian Gulf

State news agency reports crash was due to technical problem, says both crew members survived; no word on purpose of flight

Iran said a fighter jet went down in the south of the country near the Persian Gulf, with two pilots surviving the crash.

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted a local official as saying the crash was caused by a technical problem. Abdolhossein Rafipour, the governor of Tangestan, said the plane went down near the coastal town at 12:30 p.m. local time.

The purpose of Sunday’s flight was not immediately clear. Regular patrol flights are common in the region.

Iran’s air force has an assortment of US-made military aircraft purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It also has Russian-made MiG and Sukhoi planes. Decades of Western sanctions have made it hard to maintain the aging fleet.

The crash came amid recent tensions in the Gulf between the US and Iran, as well as after the latter announced earlier Sunday it had captured a foreign tanker it said was smuggling fuel to an unnamed Arab state in the region.