I agree, it only means they will
Need to fly higher. They don’t have complete aerial superiority. The fighter was allegedly taken down by mobile IR weapons system meaning , the lower level stike capability is not open to drones or low flying aircraft.
Strategically this results in
- Higher cost of operations as planes have to fly high with full weapons load meaning, aerial refueling and complicated logistics.
- Lower tempo as they need to operate with maned aircraft or HALE drone assets
- they can’t bring in larger bombers as the airspace is not open and it highly probable that Iran is still hiding some s-300 mpu systems