TEHRAN | An Iranian airliner was approached over Syria by two US fighter jets, Iranian authorities said Friday, with the US Middle East Command citing a “visual inspection”.
At first, Iran accused Israel of trying to intercept in the Syrian sky, Thursday, the plane of the Mahan Air company which finally landed without problems in Beirut, its destination.
Israel and the United States have long been enemies of Iran. The Iranian government is an ally of the regime in Syria, a country at war since 2011 and neighbor of Israel, as well as of the armed movement Hezbollah in Lebanon.
According to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Moussavi, US fighter jets approached the Iranian plane from Tehran to Beirut over Syria.
“If something happens to the plane on the way home, Iran will hold the United States responsible,” Moussavi said, quoted by the official Irna news agency website.
He added that the message had been conveyed to the UN, but also “to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran”, who represents the interests of the United States in Iran in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Overnight, Iranian public television showed video of screaming passengers as the Iranian plane appeared to attempt to escape at least two fighter jets. “(…) The pilot of the commercial aircraft quickly reduced the altitude to avoid colliding with the fighter and several passengers were injured.”
“The pilot of the Iranian plane had a conversation with the pilots of the two fighters (…), they presented themselves as Americans”, according to the Irna agency.
For its part, the US Command Center, which oversees US operations in the Middle East, said in a statement that this maneuver was carried out by an American F-15 on a “routine air mission” over Syria. , where the United States maintains troops.
The “visual inspection” was carried out at a distance of 1000 meters and was carried out “in accordance with international standards”, the statement said. “Once the F-15 pilot identified the aircraft as a Mahan Air passenger plane, he walked away safely.”
In Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said the Iranian plane had landed at Beirut airport. “There were four minor injuries among the passengers.”
In Syria, state media also claimed that planes presumably from the US-led international coalition approached the Iranian plane.