Case files / tehran-1976
Tehran: the jets that went dark
- When
- September 19, 1976, after midnight · 1976 on the timeline
- Where
- Over Tehran, Iran
- Reported by
- Imperial Iranian Air Force crews, via the U.S. Defense Attaché in Tehran
- Released
- Defense Intelligence Agency, under FOIA in 1977
- Status
- Rated a classic case by the DIA; never explained
People in Tehran phoned the air force command post about a bright object over the city, and the general on duty saw it himself. A first F-4 Phantom was sent up. The U.S. report says that as it closed to about 25 nautical miles, it lost all its instruments and its radio and intercom, which came back once the pilot turned away.
A second F-4 picked the object up on radar at 27 nautical miles, with a return the crew compared to a Boeing 707 tanker. The report says a smaller, bright object came out of the first one and headed for the jet. When the crew tried to fire a missile, the weapons control panel and radio went dead. The smaller object then rejoined the first, and another object dropped toward the ground and lit up an area two to three kilometers across. A helicopter search at daybreak found no trace at that spot.
The U.S. Defense Attaché's report went to the Joint Chiefs, the White House, the State Department, the CIA and the NSA. A Defense Intelligence Agency routing slip, later released by the NSA, rated it an outstanding report that met the criteria for a valid UFO study: credible witnesses including an air force general, radar confirmation, electrical effects on three aircraft, and an object with an unusual amount of maneuverability.
Researcher Charles Huffer got the report under FOIA in 1977; The Black Vault got its copy from the DIA and the NSA. Skeptic Philip Klass later argued the light was the planet Jupiter and the failures were faulty equipment. The pilots, including Maj. Parviz Jafari, who flew the second jet, have rejected that.