The immediately relevant context here is a news report they shot one down this Easter friday. Redditors say it looks like a European stationed F15 part. The wing stationed in Europe is scheduled to get F35 but the redditors say hasn't deployed yet, so I suspect there is more verification required both of if this is parts of a US fighter, and what model it is.

"Chinese civilian engineers" sounds a lot like "citizen investigative journalism"- i.e. a perfectly deniable outlet to spread information originating from the military or intelligence. That said, go Iran!

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