Iran fighter jet crashes after engine fails, pilots survive

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Media reports say an Iranian fighter plane crashed near the central city of Isfahan after its engine failed, but both pilots survived. The pilots were taken Saturday to a local hospital. The official IRNA news agency says there was a technical failure in the engine of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat that led to the crash. Iran’s air force has an assortment of U.S.-made military aircraft purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Tomcat F-14 is American-made. It also has Russian-made MiG and Sukhoi planes. Decades of Western sanctions have made it hard to obtain spare parts and maintain the aging aircraft.