The Tehran UFO Incident
In the early hours of 19 September 1976, residents of Tehran began calling the Imperial Iranian Air Force to report a brilliant star-like object in the sky. General Yousefi, the assistant deputy commander of operations, confirmed the object visually and ordered an F-4 Phantom scrambled from Shahrokhi Air Base. When the first jet approached within 25 nautical miles, it lost all instruments and communications. A second F-4 was scrambled. Its weapons panel locked up during an attempted missile launch. A smaller object detached from the main body and appeared to pursue the jet. The entire encounter was documented in a US Defense Intelligence Agency report that rated the information as confirmed and the source as reliable.
I was close enough to get a missile lock. When I pushed the button, my weapons panel went dead. Every system shut down.Lt. Jafari, Iranian Air Force F-4 pilot, 1976
The Intercept
Two jets, no weapons, no instruments.
The first F-4, piloted by Lt. Yassini, lost all avionics when it closed within 25 nautical miles of the object. Instruments went blank. Communications died. The pilot turned away and his systems restored. A second F-4, flown by Lt. Parviz Jafari, was dispatched. Jafari acquired radar lock at 27 nautical miles. The object appeared as a large return, comparable to a 707 tanker. As he closed, the object matched his speed, staying ahead of him.
Jafari attempted to fire an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. At the moment of launch, his weapons panel and communications went dead simultaneously. A bright object detached from the main body and streaked directly toward his aircraft at high speed. Jafari took evasive action, diving left. The smaller object followed, then returned to the main body. Jafari's systems restored after he broke away.
This case is a classic. The information is confirmed. The source is reliable.DIA Intelligence Assessment, 1976
The DIA Report
Classified, confirmed, and filed.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency produced a four-page evaluation of the incident. The distribution list included the NSA, CIA, the Secretary of State, and the White House. The report described the radar returns, the electronic interference, the apparent pursuit by a secondary object, and a landing of a third object near the ground that illuminated an area of two to three kilometres. The DIA's assessment rated the information as confirmed and the source as completely reliable. No conventional explanation was offered in the document.
The Tehran incident is one of the few UFO encounters that received high-level intelligence community attention in writing. The DIA report was declassified in 1981 and has been verified as authentic. It remains one of the cleanest military UFO encounters on record: multiple trained pilots, radar confirmation, weapon system interference, and official documentation.
The DIA report (Defence Intelligence Agency evaluation, September 1976) was distributed to the White House, NSA, CIA, and the Secretary of State. Its existence proves that UFO encounters were taken seriously at the highest levels of the US intelligence community, even when the encounters occurred in allied foreign airspace.
10 newsletter articles cover the Tehran case. See the Tehran case file and Tehran article. Related: Iran sightings.
Key People
The witnesses, investigators, and officials connected to this case.
