Iran's semi-official news agency Fars reports that an F-14 jet crashed 3 minutes after takeoff, no reason given • Incident joins list of mysterious and deadly mishaps to shake the country in recent months.

An Iranian military plane crashed early Thursday near the Gulf coast, the country's semi-official Fars news agency reported, saying no reason had yet been given for the incident.

"An F-14 crashed three minutes after take-off at 4:30 a.m. near the city of Bushehr," near one of Iran's nuclear facilities, Fars reported, citing a local government official.

The incident joins a series of mysterious mishaps reported in Iran in recent months. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinjead recently stepped up the security protecting the country's top nuclear scientists, several of whom have been victims of assassinations, following the most recent assassination earlier this month.

The assassination was preceded by a series of mysterious explosions at or near Iranian military facilities, including one in the city of Bushehr.

Bushehr province governor Mohammad Hossein Jahanbakhsh said that both the pilot and the co-pilot were killed in the crash.