The 1976 Tehran UFO Incident was a

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

and visual sighting of an

unidentified flying object An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

(UFO) over

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, the capital of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, during the early morning hours of 19 September 1976. During the incident, two

Imperial Iranian Air Force The history of the Iranian Air Force, currently known as the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, can be divided into two phases—before the Islamic Revolution, and after it. Imperial era The Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was a branch ...

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

jet interceptors reported losing instrumentation and communications as they approached the object. These were restored upon withdrawal. One of the aircraft also reported a temporary weapons systems failure while the crew was preparing to open fire. An initial report of the incident was relayed to the U.S.

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

on the day of the incident.

Incident

In the early hours of September 19, 1976, a shining object was reported in the sky above

by at least four civilians.

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Yaddi Nazeri of the

(IIAF), plus a backseat weapons officer, were dispatched in an

jet interceptor to investigate. Once Nazeri reached Tehran, he reported losing all instruments and communications, so they returned to base, reporting that his instruments came back once he did so.

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Parviz Jafari, an IIAF

squadron commander Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

, along with

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

Jalal Damirian as weapons officer, were dispatched in a second F-4 Phantom II to intercept the object. Jafari acquired radar lock on an object at a range of 27 nautical miles (≈ 50 KM.), its size compared to a

Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpor ...

. As he approached the object, which Jafari described as “flashing with intense red, green, orange and blue lights so bright that I was not able to see its body," his plane's communications system shut off. As he attempted to fire an

AIM-9 Sidewinder The AIM-9 Sidewinder (where "AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile") is a short-range air-to-air missile which entered service with the US Navy in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the US Air Force in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has prov ...

infrared guided missile, his equipment shut down and only returned to normal after his jet moved away from the object. Jafari later said he was "startled by a round object which came out of the primary object and started coming straight toward me at a high rate of speed, almost as if it were a missile," but as he attempted to fire, "Suddenly, nothing was working. The weapons control panel was out, and I lost all the instruments, and the radio." When he could report to

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

, Jafari was instructed to return. As he did so, Jafari looked to his left and saw "the primary, diamond-shaped thing up there, and another bright object came out of it and headed directly toward the ground." Expecting an explosion that did not happen, he claimed, "It seemed to slow down and land gently on the ground, radiating a high bright light." The next day, Jafari and Damirian flew by helicopter to the area where they thought the light hit the ground, finding nothing. Occupants of nearby houses only reported hearing a loud noise and a bright flash of light during the night.

Analysis

According to Martin Bridgstock of

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

:Martin Bridgstock.
Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal
'. Cambridge University Press; 20 October 2009. . p. 125–. According to U.S. journalist

Philip J. Klass Philip Julian Klass (November 8, 1919 – August 9, 2005) was an American journalist, and UFO researcher, known for his skepticism regarding UFOs. In the ufological and skeptical communities, Klass inspires polarized appraisals. He has be ...

, it was likely the pilots initially saw an astronomical body, probably

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, an explanation also cited by aerospace researcher

James Oberg James Edward Oberg (born November 7, 1944) is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian and Chinese space programs. He had a 22-year career as a space engineer in NASA specializing in orbital rendezvous. Ob ...

. Klass wrote that pilot incompetence and equipment malfunction likely accounted for the reported equipment failures. According to Klass, the Westinghouse technician at Shahrokhi Airbase stated that only the first F-4 reported failing equipment, and that this F-4 was known for equipment failures with a long history of electrical outages, having been repaired only a month before the incident. Klass cites a

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

repair supervisor's opinion that the F-4's radar could have been in "manual track" mode, causing a wrong interpretation of the radar lock. Bridgstock criticized UFOlogists reports as "not a reliable account of the Iran UFO incident" and summed up Klass' conclusions: Regarding one pilot's report of "bright objects" that "came at him, and that shot straight down into the ground", American sceptic author Brian Dunning observes that 19 September, the day of the incident, was the height of two annual meteorite showers, the Gamma Piscids and the Southern Piscids and the tail of the Eta Draconids shower, so observation of falling objects or odd lights would not have been unusual. At the site where the falling light supposedly crashed, a beeping

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...

from a C-141 aircraft was found according to investigating Col. Mooy. According to Dunning: Dunning criticized UFOlogists and UFO-themed television programs such as '' Sightings'' for describing all the events related to the incident "from the context of a presumption that the light was a hostile and intelligently guided alien spacecraft".

Reference to incident in the media

* The '' Sightings'' television program covered the incident in 1994, interviewing many of the participants. * ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''s top 10 UFO sightings (#7). * ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s top 10 UFO sightings (#10).

Gallery

Editorial published in the United States Air Force Security Services quarterly ''MIJI'' (Meaconing, Intrusion, Jamming, and Interference) newsletter that is "often waved by the UFOlogists as compelling evidence". According to Dunning, "because this service requires a security clearance, their newsletter is protected as well. There is nothing especially interesting about the actual article; it's just a dramatized retelling of the same information in Col. Mooy's memo, offered in the newsletter as a curious editorial on the subject of jamming and interference." Image:Tehran_ufo_1976_1.jpg, Editorial from the US Air Force MIJI newsletter (page 1) Image:Tehran_ufo_1976_2.jpg, Editorial from the US Air Force MIJI newsletter (page 2) Image:Tehran_ufo_1976_3.jpg, Editorial from the US Air Force MIJI newsletter (page 3)

References

External links

The Tehran UFO incident report at UfoSightingsToday.org

Defence Intelligence Agency Report with Routing and Transmittal Slip

Defense Intelligence Agency Report
* Podcast citing the various problems with the incident.

{{DEFAULTSORT:1976 Tehran Ufo Incident Alleged UFO-related aviation incidents Aviation accidents and incidents in 1976 Aviation accidents and incidents in Iran 20th century in Tehran McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...