1976 Tehran UFO Incident
Encyclopedia
The 1976 Tehran UFO Incident was a radar
and visual sighting of an unidentified flying object
(UFO) over Tehran
, the capital of Iran
, during the early morning hours of 19 September 1976. The incident is particularly notable for the electromagnetic interference
effects observed upon aircraft coming within close proximity to the object: two F-4 Phantom II
jet interceptors independently lost instrumentation and communications as they approached, only to have them restored upon withdrawal; one of the aircraft suffered temporary weapons systems failure, while preparing to open fire.
The incident, extensively recorded in a four-page U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency
(DIA) report distributed to at least the White House
, Secretary of State
, Joint Chiefs of Staff
, National Security Agency
(NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), remains one of the most well-documented military encounters with anomalous phenomena in history, and various senior Iranian military officers directly involved with the events have gone on public record stating their belief that the object was not of terrestrial
origin.
), 19 September 1976, the Imperial Iranian Air Force
command post at Tehran
received four reports by telephone, from civilians in the Shemiran
city district, of unusual activity in the night sky. Some callers reported seeing a bird
-like object; others reported a helicopter
with a bright light.
When the command post found no helicopters airborne to account for the reports, they called General
Yousefi, assistant deputy commander of operations. General Yousefi at first said the object was only a star
, but after conferring with the control tower
at Mehrabad International Airport
and then looking for himself to see a very bright object larger than a star, he decided to scramble one F-4 Phantom II
jet fighter
from Shahrokhi Air Force Base in Hamadan
, approximately 175 miles (281.6 km) west of Tehran (for location see map at right).
At 0130 hours (2200Z), the F-4, piloted by Captain Mohammad Reza Azizkhani was launched and proceeded to a point 40 nautical miles (74.1 km) north of Tehran. It was noted that the object was of such brilliance that it could be seen from 70 miles (112.7 km) away. When the aircraft approached to approximately 25 nautical miles (46.3 km) from the object, the jet suddenly lost all instrumentation and communications capabilities, prompting Azizkhani to break off the intended intercept and turn back toward Shahrohki; upon the evasion, both systems resumed functioning.
At 0140 hours, a second F-4 was scrambled, piloted by Lieutenant Parviz Jafari. Jafari would eventually retire as a general and participate on 12 November 2007, at a National Press Club conference demanding a worldwide investigation into UFO phenomena. (see also below) Jafari's jet had acquired a radar lock on the object at 27 nautical miles (50 km) range. The radar signature of the UFO resembled that of a Boeing 707 aircraft. Closing on the object at 150 nautical miles (277.8 km) per hour and at a range of 25 nautical miles (46.3 km), the object began to move, keeping a steady distance of 25 nautical miles (46.3 km) from the F-4. The size of the object was difficult to determine due to its intense brilliance. The lights of the object were alternating blue, green, red, and orange, and were arranged in a square pattern. The lights flashed in sequence, but the flashing was so rapid that they all could be seen at once.
While the object and the F-4 continued on a southerly path, a smaller second object detached itself from the first and advanced on the F-4 at high speed. Lieutenant Jafari, thinking he was under attack, tried to launch an AIM-9 sidewinder
missile, but he suddenly lost all instrumentation, including weapons control, and all communication. He later stated he attempted to eject, but to no avail, as this system also malfunctioned. Jafari then instituted a turn and a negative G dive as evasive action. The object fell in behind him at about 3 to 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) distance for a short time, then turned and rejoined the primary object.
Once again, as soon as the F-4 had turned away, instrumentation and communications were regained. The F-4 crew then saw another brightly lit object detach itself from the other side of the primary object and drop straight down at high speed. The F-4 crew expected it to impact the ground and explode, but it came to rest gently. The F-4 crew then overflew the site at a decreased altitude and marked the position of the light's touchdown. Jafari would later comment that the object was so bright that it lit up the ground and he could see rocks around it. The object had touched down nearby Rey Oil Refinery on the outskirts of Iran. Then they landed at Mehrabad, noting that each time they passed through a magnetic bearing of 150 degrees from Mehrabad, they experienced interference and communications failure.
A civilian airliner that was approaching Mehrabad also experienced a loss of communications at the same position relative to Mehrabad. As the F-4 was on final approach, they sighted yet another object, cylinder-shaped, with bright, steady lights on each end and a flashing light in the middle. The object overflew the F-4 as they were on approach. Mehrabad tower reported no other aircraft in the area, but tower personnel were able to see the object when given directions by Jafari. Years later, the main controller and an investigating general revealed that the object also overflew the control tower and knocked out all of its electronic equipment as well (see below).
The next day, the F-4 crew flew out in a helicopter to the site where they had seen the smaller object land. In the daylight, it was determined to be a dry lake bed, but no traces could be seen. They then circled the area to the west and picked up a noticeable "beeper" signal. The signal was loudest near a small house, so they landed and questioned the occupants of the house about any unusual events of the previous night. They reported a loud noise and a bright light like lightning.
Further investigation of the landing site, including radiation testing of the area was apparently done, but the results were never made public. Since this event occurred before the fall of the Shah
, any records in Tehran itself may be lost.
TV program tracked down and interviewed various principals involved in the incident. Nearly all expressed the opinion that they were dealing with a high-technology extraterrestrial
craft.
One of the pilots of the first jet interceptor, Yaddi Nazeri, estimated that the UFO was traveling somewhere between two and three thousand miles per hour. He said that the object "...was beyond my speed and power. The [later] F-4... also could not catch up to the object. That's when I thought, this is a UFO." Nazeri added that "...no country had this type of flying object, so I was thinking, this craft is from another planet."
The second F-4 pilot, General Parviz Jafari, said that after trying to fire a missile and failing, they feared for their lives and tried to eject, but the eject button also malfunctioned. At a Washington D.C. press conference on November 12, 2007, Jafari added details that the main object emitted four objects, one that headed towards him and later returned to the main object a short while later, one which he tried unsuccessfully to fire on, another which followed him back, and one which landed on the desert floor and glowed. Following his prepared statement at the press conference, Jafari was asked if he believed he had encountered an alien spacecraft and Pirouzi said he was quite certain that he had. (see below for further details and references)
General Nader Yousefi, the assistant deputy commander of the Iranian Air Force, said he ordered the two jet interceptions. He said that, "Because of the experience I had on September 19, 1976, I believe there is something up there. We just don't know what it is or where it came from."
Yousefi repeated many of the details of the encounter already recorded in the DIA document but also added a few more. Yousefi said that after the second F-4 lost its communications and weapons systems and took evasive maneuvers, it tried one last pursuit of the UFO. Even approaching at Mach
2, the UFO easily outdistanced it. The pilots decided to return to Mehrabad airport. As they were approaching to land, Yousefi said the control tower phoned him that the UFO was following the jet back to base.
The control tower supervisor, Hossein Pirouzi, told Sightings that the pilot was in a panic with the large UFO on its tail. According to Pirouzi and other controllers, the UFO performed a low-altitude flyby over Mehrabad at about 2200 to 2500 feet (762 m). It was described as a cylinder-shaped object as large as a tour bus, with bright steady lights on each end and a flasher in the middle. During the flyby, the control tower lost all power, although other parts of the airport were unaffected. After the flyby, the UFO took off to the west and was spotted 25 minutes later over the Mediterranean by an Egyptian Air Force pilot, then again over Lisbon
, Portugal
by the pilot, crew, and passengers of a KLM flight, reporting that it was speeding westward over the Atlantic Ocean
.
The following day, an investigation was held in Tehran. The Iranian Air Force Deputy Commander, Lieutenant General Abdollah Azarbarzin, conducted interviews with all of the principals and wrote up a report. Gen. Jafari, the second F-4 pilot, stated that he was among those interviewed and an American colonel sat there and took notes. This information later appeared in the D.I.A. account of the incident.
Tower controller Pirouzi was also among those interviewed. He recalled a discussion by Azarbarzin's panel at the conclusion of the meeting. "When they heard our report and the report of the pilots, they concluded that no country is capable of such technology, and all of them believed it was a strange object from outer space."
When interviewed by Sightings, Azarbarzin independently confirmed Pirouzi's statement. He said they concluded that the UFO had deliberately jammed both the aircraft and control tower electronics. About the objects that seemed to shoot out of the UFO, Azarbarzin said, "The pilots called them fireballs, but we all thought that they were very powerful waves of electromagnetism, which jammed all the electronics starting from VHF, UHF, fire control system, gun radar, gun communications, everything. Everything was gone."
Azarbarzin also said that the copilot got a good look at the UFO when the second F-4 came out of its emergency dive and passed underneath it. He told both Sightings and researcher Dr. Bruce Maccabee
the copilot could see the shape, which he said was round like a plate or just like a saucer, with a canopy or cockpit that looked like half a ball bathed in a dim orange or yellowish light, but with no visible crew.
When all factors were considered, including the extraordinary rate of acceleration displayed by the UFO, Azarbarzin concluded that the UFO had outperformed any known human aircraft.
This conclusion was relayed to General Hatemi, the Shah's personal military advisory, who instructed Azararzin to give his report to the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group
in Tehran (MAAG). In charge of MAAG and chief U.S. Air Force military advisory to the Iranians was General Richard Secord
. Secord declined to be interviewed. Gen. Azarbarzin refused to state publicly whether Secord had seen the report, but another high Iranian Air Force commander, Mamoud Sabahat, told Sightings that he was present in Tehran to attend a meeting on the night of the incident. "This UFO event was the first time in our Air Force's history that anything had happened like this. It would have been a usual and customary part of the military system to put him [Secord] at that meeting."
Gen. Azarbarzin also told Maccabee that the complete records of the investigation had been turned over to the U.S. Air Force. However, the USAF has steadfastly maintained that their only record of the incident was provided in the DIA document originally prepared by a USAF officer who interviewed the pilot of the second F-4.
About his personal opinion, Gen. Azarbarzin told Sightings, "I believe in UFOs. I cannot ignore their existence. They want to find some way of contacting the people of earth. They are trying, and they are going to do it." Azarbarzin's opinion was echoed by Amir Kamyabipour, former deputy commander of operations in the Iranian Air Force. Because of what he experienced first-hand during this incident, he believes, "UFOs are trying to find some way to make contact with our world. I am positive of this."
Jafari was ordered to return to base if he was unable to get near, and Jafari cut off pursuit. As he was returning, he "told air controllers that the UFO had doubled back on its pursuers, and he was in danger of being forced down. 'Something is coming at me from behind. ...I think it is going to crash into me. It has just passed by, missing me narrowly...' The disturbed voice of the pilot was clear on the tape."
The article also recounted how the pilot spoke of a "bright round object, with a circumference of about 4.5 meters, leave the UFO." It also said that the authenticity of the object had already been confirmed by the two F-4 pilots, several control tower operators, and witnesses on the ground who reported a "bright body" flit across the sky while others reported seeing "some bright thing" fall from the sky.
Another document later came to light revealing that a very similar UFO was sighted in Morocco
from many locations about 3 to 4 hours later, or 0100 to 0200 hours local time on September 19. The document was from the American embassy in Rabat, Morocco to the U.S. State Department, dated September 25, 1976--"Subject: Request for Info. Unidentified Flying Objects." It recounted that the Moroccan police had received numerous reports of an object generally flying parallel to the Atlantic coast at low altitude. It had a silvery luminous circular or tubular shape and was giving off intermittent trails of bright sparks and fragments. It made no noise. One of the embassy's unnamed briefers said he had seen it himself, and that it appeared to be traveling slowly like an aircraft preparing to land. At first it appeared disc-shaped, but took on a tubular appearance as it got closer.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
responded ten days later and took the official U.S. policy line on UFOs. Kissinger claimed the Condon Committee
report had shown that all UFOs could be attributed to natural causes and no further study was warranted. Kissinger said people had probably seen a meteor or a decaying satellite part for which there was no re-entry record.
In a search for further information on the case in National Security Agency
records, it was also found that an article on the Tehran incident had been written in 1978 (see Gallery) in the classified MIJI Quarterly a periodical published by the Electronics Security Command at San Antonio, Texas
. The journal contained narrative summaries of all electronic warfare
"meaconing
", "intrusion," "jamming
," and "interference" incidents (hence the acronym MIJI—see http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm24-33/fm243_5.htm). The report basically provided the details in the DIA document, but prefaced the article as follows:
claimed the witnesses initially saw an astronomical body, probably Jupiter, and pilot incompetence and equipment malfunction accounted for the rest.
The bright object was first noticed by witnesses in Shemiran
, the northernmost district of Tehran. One of the witnesses in the northeastern part of Tehran was Gen. Yousefi himself, who ordered the jet interceptions. The jets were scrambled from Shahrokhi AFB in Hamadan
, about 175 miles (281.6 km) west-southwest of Tehran, and vectored to a point 40 miles (64.4 km) north of central Tehran. However, Jupiter was in the east. Thus the UFO was approximately 90 degrees away from Jupiter at the time. In addition, the second F-4 chased the UFO from northern to southern Tehran. Again, Jupiter would be at nearly 90 degrees to the pursuit trajectory.
Furthermore, both F-4's picked up and tracked something on their radar, impossible for an astronomical object like a star or planet. Many more details of the encounter do not match Klass' proposed explanation, such as both F-4's and the control tower losing their electronics with close approach to the UFO and a third civilian plane in the region also losing communications.
Jerome Clark
commented, "Klass's theory presumes a remarkable lack of even rudimentary observing and technical skills on the parts of the Iranian participants. In some ways it would be easier to credit the notion, for which no evidence exists either, that the witnesses consciously fabricated the sighting. Both Gen. Azerbarzin and air controller Perouzi considered the incident thoroughly puzzling. So, as the documents indicate, did American analysts familiar with it."
detected an infrared anomaly during the time of this event that lasted for about an hour.
The article said that a UFO had been seen by a number of people on the night of July 16, again in the northern part of Tehran. One witness said he saw the object suddenly emerge in the sky and hover directly above him. Witnesses said it was a "strange glowing object" that seemed to be floating southwestward toward Saveh
(about halfway between Tehran and Hamadan). Witnesses contacted the National Radio Network and the control tower at Mehrabad, which confirmed the existence of the object but provided no further details. The article added, "Officials from the control tower at Mehrabad Airport and a Lufthansa
aircrew also reported unusual readings on their instruments."
The article also briefly mentioned another recent UFO incident from April 1978. A local pilot said that he and his copilot had photographed a "glittering" object while flying between Ahvaz
and Tehran. (Ahvaz is about 200 miles (321.9 km) southwest of Tehran.) He could not release the photographs until the security division of the civil aviation authorities gave permission. Apparently there was also ground radar corroboration. "A Mehrabad radar control official said that on that occasion they had detected an object some 20 times the size of a jumbo jet on their screens." Civil aviation authorities were said to be investigating, but the results had not been made public.
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
and visual sighting of an unidentified flying object
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
(UFO) over Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, the capital of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, during the early morning hours of 19 September 1976. The incident is particularly notable for the electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit...
effects observed upon aircraft coming within close proximity to the object: two F-4 Phantom II
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...
jet interceptors independently lost instrumentation and communications as they approached, only to have them restored upon withdrawal; one of the aircraft suffered temporary weapons systems failure, while preparing to open fire.
The incident, extensively recorded in a four-page U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a member of the Intelligence Community of the United States, and is the central producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 U.S. military and civilian employees worldwide...
(DIA) report distributed to at least the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
, National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
(NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA), remains one of the most well-documented military encounters with anomalous phenomena in history, and various senior Iranian military officers directly involved with the events have gone on public record stating their belief that the object was not of terrestrial
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
origin.
The incident
At approximately 0030 hours local time (2100ZCoordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
), 19 September 1976, the Imperial Iranian Air Force
History of the Iranian Air Force
The history of the Iranian Air Force can be divided into two phases - before the Islamic Revolution, and after it.-Imperial era: The Imperial Iranian Air Force was a branch of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and was established by Reza Shah, the Shah of Iran, in 1920. It became operational with...
command post at Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
received four reports by telephone, from civilians in the Shemiran
Shemiran
Shemiran is the capital of Shemiranat County, Tehran Province, Iran, but is actually located just north of the borders of Tehran County along Chamran Expressway and Sadr Expressway and it is the northernmost district of the city of Tehran....
city district, of unusual activity in the night sky. Some callers reported seeing a bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
-like object; others reported a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
with a bright light.
When the command post found no helicopters airborne to account for the reports, they called General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Yousefi, assistant deputy commander of operations. General Yousefi at first said the object was only a star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
, but after conferring with the control tower
Control tower
A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...
at Mehrabad International Airport
Mehrabad International Airport
Mehrabad International Airport is an airport that serves Tehran, Iran. It was the primary airport of Tehran in both international and domestic passenger traffic but has been replaced by Imam Khomeini International Airport in most of its international flights...
and then looking for himself to see a very bright object larger than a star, he decided to scramble one F-4 Phantom II
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...
jet fighter
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
from Shahrokhi Air Force Base in Hamadan
Hamadan
-Culture:Hamadan is home to many poets and cultural celebrities. The city is also said to be among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.Handicrafts: Hamadan has always been well known for handicrafts like leather, ceramic, and beautiful carpets....
, approximately 175 miles (281.6 km) west of Tehran (for location see map at right).
At 0130 hours (2200Z), the F-4, piloted by Captain Mohammad Reza Azizkhani was launched and proceeded to a point 40 nautical miles (74.1 km) north of Tehran. It was noted that the object was of such brilliance that it could be seen from 70 miles (112.7 km) away. When the aircraft approached to approximately 25 nautical miles (46.3 km) from the object, the jet suddenly lost all instrumentation and communications capabilities, prompting Azizkhani to break off the intended intercept and turn back toward Shahrohki; upon the evasion, both systems resumed functioning.
At 0140 hours, a second F-4 was scrambled, piloted by Lieutenant Parviz Jafari. Jafari would eventually retire as a general and participate on 12 November 2007, at a National Press Club conference demanding a worldwide investigation into UFO phenomena. (see also below) Jafari's jet had acquired a radar lock on the object at 27 nautical miles (50 km) range. The radar signature of the UFO resembled that of a Boeing 707 aircraft. Closing on the object at 150 nautical miles (277.8 km) per hour and at a range of 25 nautical miles (46.3 km), the object began to move, keeping a steady distance of 25 nautical miles (46.3 km) from the F-4. The size of the object was difficult to determine due to its intense brilliance. The lights of the object were alternating blue, green, red, and orange, and were arranged in a square pattern. The lights flashed in sequence, but the flashing was so rapid that they all could be seen at once.
While the object and the F-4 continued on a southerly path, a smaller second object detached itself from the first and advanced on the F-4 at high speed. Lieutenant Jafari, thinking he was under attack, tried to launch an AIM-9 sidewinder
AIM-9 Sidewinder
The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried mostly by fighter aircraft and recently, certain gunship helicopters. The missile entered service with United States Air Force in the early 1950s, and variants and upgrades remain in active service with many air forces...
missile, but he suddenly lost all instrumentation, including weapons control, and all communication. He later stated he attempted to eject, but to no avail, as this system also malfunctioned. Jafari then instituted a turn and a negative G dive as evasive action. The object fell in behind him at about 3 to 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) distance for a short time, then turned and rejoined the primary object.
Once again, as soon as the F-4 had turned away, instrumentation and communications were regained. The F-4 crew then saw another brightly lit object detach itself from the other side of the primary object and drop straight down at high speed. The F-4 crew expected it to impact the ground and explode, but it came to rest gently. The F-4 crew then overflew the site at a decreased altitude and marked the position of the light's touchdown. Jafari would later comment that the object was so bright that it lit up the ground and he could see rocks around it. The object had touched down nearby Rey Oil Refinery on the outskirts of Iran. Then they landed at Mehrabad, noting that each time they passed through a magnetic bearing of 150 degrees from Mehrabad, they experienced interference and communications failure.
A civilian airliner that was approaching Mehrabad also experienced a loss of communications at the same position relative to Mehrabad. As the F-4 was on final approach, they sighted yet another object, cylinder-shaped, with bright, steady lights on each end and a flashing light in the middle. The object overflew the F-4 as they were on approach. Mehrabad tower reported no other aircraft in the area, but tower personnel were able to see the object when given directions by Jafari. Years later, the main controller and an investigating general revealed that the object also overflew the control tower and knocked out all of its electronic equipment as well (see below).
The next day, the F-4 crew flew out in a helicopter to the site where they had seen the smaller object land. In the daylight, it was determined to be a dry lake bed, but no traces could be seen. They then circled the area to the west and picked up a noticeable "beeper" signal. The signal was loudest near a small house, so they landed and questioned the occupants of the house about any unusual events of the previous night. They reported a loud noise and a bright light like lightning.
Further investigation of the landing site, including radiation testing of the area was apparently done, but the results were never made public. Since this event occurred before the fall of the Shah
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
, any records in Tehran itself may be lost.
D.I.A. form
Alongside the report there was a form from the DIA which assessed the quality of the report. The form indicated in checked boxes that the content was of high value, that the report was confirmed by other sources, and that the utility of the information was potentially useful to them. The form from the DIA also stated the following:- "An outstanding report. This case is a classic which meets all the criteria necessary for a valid study of the UFO phenomenon:
- a) The object was seen by multiple witnesses from different locations (i.e., Shamiran, Mehrabad, and the dry lake bed) and viewpoints (both airborne and from the ground).
- b) The credibility of many of the witnesses was high (an Air Force general, qualified aircrews, and experienced tower operators).
- c) Visual sightings were confirmed by radar.
- d) Similar electromagneticElectromagnetic interferenceElectromagnetic interference is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit...
effects (EME) were reported by three separate aircraft.
- e) There were physiological effects on some crew members (i.e., loss of night vision due to the brightness of the object).
- f) An inordinate amount of maneuverability was displayed by the UFOs."
Opinions of some participants
In 1994, SightingsSightings
Sightings was an American paranormal documentary and news television series that originally aired from April 17, 1992 to August 1, 1997 on Fox. The program began as a special titled The UFO Report: Sightings on October 18, 1991...
TV program tracked down and interviewed various principals involved in the incident. Nearly all expressed the opinion that they were dealing with a high-technology extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
craft.
One of the pilots of the first jet interceptor, Yaddi Nazeri, estimated that the UFO was traveling somewhere between two and three thousand miles per hour. He said that the object "...was beyond my speed and power. The [later] F-4... also could not catch up to the object. That's when I thought, this is a UFO." Nazeri added that "...no country had this type of flying object, so I was thinking, this craft is from another planet."
The second F-4 pilot, General Parviz Jafari, said that after trying to fire a missile and failing, they feared for their lives and tried to eject, but the eject button also malfunctioned. At a Washington D.C. press conference on November 12, 2007, Jafari added details that the main object emitted four objects, one that headed towards him and later returned to the main object a short while later, one which he tried unsuccessfully to fire on, another which followed him back, and one which landed on the desert floor and glowed. Following his prepared statement at the press conference, Jafari was asked if he believed he had encountered an alien spacecraft and Pirouzi said he was quite certain that he had. (see below for further details and references)
General Nader Yousefi, the assistant deputy commander of the Iranian Air Force, said he ordered the two jet interceptions. He said that, "Because of the experience I had on September 19, 1976, I believe there is something up there. We just don't know what it is or where it came from."
Yousefi repeated many of the details of the encounter already recorded in the DIA document but also added a few more. Yousefi said that after the second F-4 lost its communications and weapons systems and took evasive maneuvers, it tried one last pursuit of the UFO. Even approaching at Mach
Mach number
Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...
2, the UFO easily outdistanced it. The pilots decided to return to Mehrabad airport. As they were approaching to land, Yousefi said the control tower phoned him that the UFO was following the jet back to base.
The control tower supervisor, Hossein Pirouzi, told Sightings that the pilot was in a panic with the large UFO on its tail. According to Pirouzi and other controllers, the UFO performed a low-altitude flyby over Mehrabad at about 2200 to 2500 feet (762 m). It was described as a cylinder-shaped object as large as a tour bus, with bright steady lights on each end and a flasher in the middle. During the flyby, the control tower lost all power, although other parts of the airport were unaffected. After the flyby, the UFO took off to the west and was spotted 25 minutes later over the Mediterranean by an Egyptian Air Force pilot, then again over Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
by the pilot, crew, and passengers of a KLM flight, reporting that it was speeding westward over the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
The following day, an investigation was held in Tehran. The Iranian Air Force Deputy Commander, Lieutenant General Abdollah Azarbarzin, conducted interviews with all of the principals and wrote up a report. Gen. Jafari, the second F-4 pilot, stated that he was among those interviewed and an American colonel sat there and took notes. This information later appeared in the D.I.A. account of the incident.
Tower controller Pirouzi was also among those interviewed. He recalled a discussion by Azarbarzin's panel at the conclusion of the meeting. "When they heard our report and the report of the pilots, they concluded that no country is capable of such technology, and all of them believed it was a strange object from outer space."
When interviewed by Sightings, Azarbarzin independently confirmed Pirouzi's statement. He said they concluded that the UFO had deliberately jammed both the aircraft and control tower electronics. About the objects that seemed to shoot out of the UFO, Azarbarzin said, "The pilots called them fireballs, but we all thought that they were very powerful waves of electromagnetism, which jammed all the electronics starting from VHF, UHF, fire control system, gun radar, gun communications, everything. Everything was gone."
Azarbarzin also said that the copilot got a good look at the UFO when the second F-4 came out of its emergency dive and passed underneath it. He told both Sightings and researcher Dr. Bruce Maccabee
Bruce Maccabee
Bruce Maccabee is an American optical physicist formerly employed by the U.S. Navy, and a leading ufologist.- Biography :MacCabee received a B.S. in physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., and then at American University, Washington, DC,...
the copilot could see the shape, which he said was round like a plate or just like a saucer, with a canopy or cockpit that looked like half a ball bathed in a dim orange or yellowish light, but with no visible crew.
When all factors were considered, including the extraordinary rate of acceleration displayed by the UFO, Azarbarzin concluded that the UFO had outperformed any known human aircraft.
This conclusion was relayed to General Hatemi, the Shah's personal military advisory, who instructed Azararzin to give his report to the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group
Military Assistance Advisory Group
Military Assistance Advisory Group is a designation for American military advisers sent to assist in the training of conventional armed forces of Third World countries. Before and during the Vietnam War, there were three of these groups operating in Southeast Asia...
in Tehran (MAAG). In charge of MAAG and chief U.S. Air Force military advisory to the Iranians was General Richard Secord
Richard Secord
Major General Richard V. Secord, Retired , is a United States Air Force officer convicted for his involvement with the Iran-Contra scandal only to be exonerated after a 1990 Supreme Court case found the statute used to be illegal....
. Secord declined to be interviewed. Gen. Azarbarzin refused to state publicly whether Secord had seen the report, but another high Iranian Air Force commander, Mamoud Sabahat, told Sightings that he was present in Tehran to attend a meeting on the night of the incident. "This UFO event was the first time in our Air Force's history that anything had happened like this. It would have been a usual and customary part of the military system to put him [Secord] at that meeting."
Gen. Azarbarzin also told Maccabee that the complete records of the investigation had been turned over to the U.S. Air Force. However, the USAF has steadfastly maintained that their only record of the incident was provided in the DIA document originally prepared by a USAF officer who interviewed the pilot of the second F-4.
About his personal opinion, Gen. Azarbarzin told Sightings, "I believe in UFOs. I cannot ignore their existence. They want to find some way of contacting the people of earth. They are trying, and they are going to do it." Azarbarzin's opinion was echoed by Amir Kamyabipour, former deputy commander of operations in the Iranian Air Force. Because of what he experienced first-hand during this incident, he believes, "UFOs are trying to find some way to make contact with our world. I am positive of this."
Miscellaneous details and documents
In the October 1, 1976 issue of the Iran Times from Washington, D.C., an apparent firsthand account from Lt. Jafari, the pilot of the second jet interceptor, was published, based on a tape of the actual pursuit. The aircraft flew towards Tehran at over the speed of sound. Jafari said that on seeing him coming, the UFO increased its speed. 'It was half the size of the moon as seen from earth,' he said. 'It was radiating violet, orange, and white light about three times as strong as moonlight.'"Jafari was ordered to return to base if he was unable to get near, and Jafari cut off pursuit. As he was returning, he "told air controllers that the UFO had doubled back on its pursuers, and he was in danger of being forced down. 'Something is coming at me from behind. ...I think it is going to crash into me. It has just passed by, missing me narrowly...' The disturbed voice of the pilot was clear on the tape."
The article also recounted how the pilot spoke of a "bright round object, with a circumference of about 4.5 meters, leave the UFO." It also said that the authenticity of the object had already been confirmed by the two F-4 pilots, several control tower operators, and witnesses on the ground who reported a "bright body" flit across the sky while others reported seeing "some bright thing" fall from the sky.
Another document later came to light revealing that a very similar UFO was sighted in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
from many locations about 3 to 4 hours later, or 0100 to 0200 hours local time on September 19. The document was from the American embassy in Rabat, Morocco to the U.S. State Department, dated September 25, 1976--"Subject: Request for Info. Unidentified Flying Objects." It recounted that the Moroccan police had received numerous reports of an object generally flying parallel to the Atlantic coast at low altitude. It had a silvery luminous circular or tubular shape and was giving off intermittent trails of bright sparks and fragments. It made no noise. One of the embassy's unnamed briefers said he had seen it himself, and that it appeared to be traveling slowly like an aircraft preparing to land. At first it appeared disc-shaped, but took on a tubular appearance as it got closer.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
responded ten days later and took the official U.S. policy line on UFOs. Kissinger claimed the Condon Committee
Condon Committee
The Condon Committee was the informal name of the University of Colorado UFO Project, a group funded by the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1968 at the University of Colorado to study unidentified flying objects under the direction of physicist Edward Condon...
report had shown that all UFOs could be attributed to natural causes and no further study was warranted. Kissinger said people had probably seen a meteor or a decaying satellite part for which there was no re-entry record.
In a search for further information on the case in National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
records, it was also found that an article on the Tehran incident had been written in 1978 (see Gallery) in the classified MIJI Quarterly a periodical published by the Electronics Security Command at San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. The journal contained narrative summaries of all electronic warfare
Electronic warfare
Electronic warfare refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly...
"meaconing
Meaconing
Meaconing is the interception and rebroadcast of navigation signals. These signals are rebroadcast on the received frequency to confuse enemy navigation. Consequently, aircraft or ground stations are given inaccurate bearings. Meaconing is more of a concern to personnel in navigation ratings than...
", "intrusion," "jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
," and "interference" incidents (hence the acronym MIJI—see http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm24-33/fm243_5.htm). The report basically provided the details in the DIA document, but prefaced the article as follows:
- "Sometime in his career, each pilot can expect to encounter strange, unusual happenings which will never be adequately or entirely explained by logic or subsequent investigation. The following article recounts just such an episode as reported by two F-4 Phantom crews of the Imperial Iranian Air Force during late 1976. No additional information or explanation of the strange events has been forthcoming: the story will be filed away and probably forgotten, but it makes interesting, and possibly disturbing, reading."
Skeptical explanation and analysis
In his book UFOs: The Public Deceived, debunker Philip J. KlassPhilip J. Klass
Philip Julian Klass was an American journalist and UFO researcher, known for his skepticism regarding UFOs. In the ufological and skeptical communities, Klass tends to inspire strongly polarized appraisals. Klass has been called the "Sherlock Holmes of UFOlogy"...
claimed the witnesses initially saw an astronomical body, probably Jupiter, and pilot incompetence and equipment malfunction accounted for the rest.
The bright object was first noticed by witnesses in Shemiran
Shemiran
Shemiran is the capital of Shemiranat County, Tehran Province, Iran, but is actually located just north of the borders of Tehran County along Chamran Expressway and Sadr Expressway and it is the northernmost district of the city of Tehran....
, the northernmost district of Tehran. One of the witnesses in the northeastern part of Tehran was Gen. Yousefi himself, who ordered the jet interceptions. The jets were scrambled from Shahrokhi AFB in Hamadan
Hamadan
-Culture:Hamadan is home to many poets and cultural celebrities. The city is also said to be among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.Handicrafts: Hamadan has always been well known for handicrafts like leather, ceramic, and beautiful carpets....
, about 175 miles (281.6 km) west-southwest of Tehran, and vectored to a point 40 miles (64.4 km) north of central Tehran. However, Jupiter was in the east. Thus the UFO was approximately 90 degrees away from Jupiter at the time. In addition, the second F-4 chased the UFO from northern to southern Tehran. Again, Jupiter would be at nearly 90 degrees to the pursuit trajectory.
Furthermore, both F-4's picked up and tracked something on their radar, impossible for an astronomical object like a star or planet. Many more details of the encounter do not match Klass' proposed explanation, such as both F-4's and the control tower losing their electronics with close approach to the UFO and a third civilian plane in the region also losing communications.
Jerome Clark
Jerome Clark
Jerome Clark is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note....
commented, "Klass's theory presumes a remarkable lack of even rudimentary observing and technical skills on the parts of the Iranian participants. In some ways it would be easier to credit the notion, for which no evidence exists either, that the witnesses consciously fabricated the sighting. Both Gen. Azerbarzin and air controller Perouzi considered the incident thoroughly puzzling. So, as the documents indicate, did American analysts familiar with it."
Summary
The incident is regarded by a number of UFO researchers to be one of the premier UFO encounters ever recorded. Some researchers consider it strong evidence for the extraterrestrial origins of the UFO because there was a blackout on the F-4 just when it was going to fire and because of instrumental breakdowns on two different aircraft while they were on the chase. A military spy satellite also recorded this incident. The DSP-1 satelliteDefense Support Program
The Defense Support Program is a program of the U.S. Air Force that operates the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System currently used by the United States....
detected an infrared anomaly during the time of this event that lasted for about an hour.
Reference to incident in the media
- The SightingsSightingsSightings was an American paranormal documentary and news television series that originally aired from April 17, 1992 to August 1, 1997 on Fox. The program began as a special titled The UFO Report: Sightings on October 18, 1991...
TV program covered the incident in 1994, interviewing many of the participants. (See above) - The Tehran incident was considered one of the ten best UFO cases in a 2007 Canadian documentary Best Evidence by film maker Paul Kimball. The list of best cases was compiled by polling leading UFO researchers. http://bestevidence.blogspot.com
- At a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on November 12, 2007, the pilot of the second F-4, General Parviz Jafari, recounted how he tried to intercept an "object which was flashing with intense red, green, orange and blue light." Jafari said that, "Four other objects with different shapes separated from the main one, at different times during this close encounter. Whenever they were close to me, my weapons were jammed and my radio communications were garbled. One of the objects headed toward me. I thought it was a missile. I tried to launch a heat seeking missile to it, but my missile panel went out. Another followed me when I was descending on the way back. One of the separated objects landed in an open area radiating a high bright light, in which the sands on the ground were visible. We could hear emergency squash all the way, which was reported by other airliners flying at the time and continued for another couple of days. During my interview at H.Q, after the incident, an American colonel took notes..." When asked if he thought this was an alien spacecraft, he said he was quite sure that it was.
1978 Tehran UFO incidents
A somewhat similar UFO incident over Tehran occurred in 1978, again involving electromagnetic interference and U.S. DIA interest. The report was sent by the U.S. Defense Attache's office to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, part of the normal routing for foreign intelligence reports. As in the 1976 case, the distribution list included the Secretary of State, the NSA, and the CIA. The report was quoted from the Iranian English-language newspaper Tehran Journal, dated July 18, 1978.The article said that a UFO had been seen by a number of people on the night of July 16, again in the northern part of Tehran. One witness said he saw the object suddenly emerge in the sky and hover directly above him. Witnesses said it was a "strange glowing object" that seemed to be floating southwestward toward Saveh
Saveh
Sāveh is a city in the Markazi Province of Iran. It is located around 100 km southwest of Tehran. As of 2006, the city had a population of 179,009 people.-History:In the 7th century BC it was as stronghold of the Medes...
(about halfway between Tehran and Hamadan). Witnesses contacted the National Radio Network and the control tower at Mehrabad, which confirmed the existence of the object but provided no further details. The article added, "Officials from the control tower at Mehrabad Airport and a Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
aircrew also reported unusual readings on their instruments."
The article also briefly mentioned another recent UFO incident from April 1978. A local pilot said that he and his copilot had photographed a "glittering" object while flying between Ahvaz
Ahvaz
-History:For a more comprehensive historical treatment of the area, see the history section of Khūzestān Province.-Ancient history:Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "Avaja" which appear in Darius's epigraph...
and Tehran. (Ahvaz is about 200 miles (321.9 km) southwest of Tehran.) He could not release the photographs until the security division of the civil aviation authorities gave permission. Apparently there was also ground radar corroboration. "A Mehrabad radar control official said that on that occasion they had detected an object some 20 times the size of a jumbo jet on their screens." Civil aviation authorities were said to be investigating, but the results had not been made public.
External links
- Iranian Dogfight Incident
- NICAP.org: Iran F-4 Incident
- MUFON account by reporter Bob Pratt--extensive quotations from participants
- Bruce Maccabee's detailed report from interviews & documents, with UFO sketches
- Ufoevidence.org: Summary and links to documents
- Portions of Fawcett & Greenwood book on incident