Watch the Skies: A Visual Commentary - Chapter 13
Did Iranian Fighter Planes Battle UFOs in September of 1976?
Welcome back, unsuspecting humans!
Today, we look to the east; to examine a spot that does not typically make UFO headlines.
Specifically, Iran.
What really happened during the 1976 Tehran UFO Sighting?
In 1976, the Iranian capital of Tehran was gripped by a wave of UFO sightings. The most famous of these occurred on September 19th, when a massive glowing object was seen hovering over the city for several hours. Thousands witnessed this alleged UFO, including military personnel and government officials.
THE INCIDENT:
12:30 am, September 19th, 1976.
Imperial Iranian Air Force receives a phone call at their main command post in Tehran. A civilian reports seeing a large, bright light pulsing in the night sky. The call goes to General Yousefi, the Assistant Deputy Commander of Operations. Yousefi’s first reaction is to phone the Mehrabad International Airport to confirm if they had anything flying in that vicinity. The airport states that they had nothing in the skies whatsoever. Yousefi then assumes that perhaps the civilian was seeing a bright star or even the planet, Venus, often visible at that time of year. But when Yousefi goes to investigate, he concludes that the unidentified object is much too large and close to be a star or planet.
The General then scrambles an F-4 Phantom II into the air to intercept the unknown craft.
Piloted by Captain Mohammad Reza Azizkhani, the jet speeds towards the object. Azizkhani reports that the object is so brilliant that it can be seen from almost 70 miles away. Whatever the aerial object is, it is huge. At about 25 miles away, Azizkhani’s instruments malfunction, and communication drop. The confused and scared pilot aborts the interception, and heads back to base. As he distances himself from the glowing object, his instruments start functioning once again, but he does not take any chances. The pilot heads back to base to explain what he has seen.
In response to Azizkhani’s encounter, a second F-4 jet is now scrambled, primarily to test if the original plane was simply malfunctioning. Now piloted by Major Parviz Jafari, the plane heads toward the brilliant object in the sky, and is even able to acquire a radar lock. Jafari would later report that the object’s radar signature was massive, comparable to that of a Boeing 707 aircraft. As he closes in on the object, the lights begin to move, as if aware of the interception occurring. Jafari tries to estimate the size of the diamond shaped object, but just like Azizkhani’s observation earlier, it is just too bright to make a fair assessment. Jafari, however, is able to make out different colored lights alternating in blinking succession. Blues, red, and orange are rapidly flashing all at once.
(The object was) "flashing with intense red, green, orange and blue lights so bright that I was not able to see its body…"
“(I 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.”
"Suddenly, nothing was working. The weapons control panel was out, and I lost all the instruments, and the radio."
- Major Parviz Jafari
Suddenly, a smaller object detaches from the UFO, and advances towards Jafari’s F-4. Defense procedure kicks in, as the pilot believes this is an attack. Since his weapons are still down, Jafari retreats from the UFO.
As he distances himself from the object, the instruments and communications return. Jafari relays that the object makes a rapid descent towards the ground. Jafari believes that the UFO was will explode upon impact with the ground; but whatever it is, it seems to gently land on a bed of rocks near Mehrabad, Iran.
Civilian airliners in the area report instrument failure in the same area where the mysterious object appears to land. Occupants of nearby houses report seeing a bright flash of light during the night.
Jafari, making one last attempt to investigate this extraordinary encounter, witnesses one more object, cylindrical in shape, buzzing over the area. Flight tower personnel at Mehrabad International Airport are able to corroborate this last sighting, stating that the unknown object flew over their towers, again causing all of their electrical equipment to malfunction.
Finally, the secondary glowing cylinder makes way back to the primary object; when an intense flash of light occurs, and the UFO disappears out of sight.
The Official Explanation:
UFO skeptics observe that the day of the incident was the height of two annual meteorite showers; the Gamma Piscids, and the Southern Piscids. So observation of falling objects or odd lights might not have been unusual. At the site, where the falling light supposedly crashed, a beeping transponder from a C-141 aircraft was found, according to investigators.
But, this explanation suggests that Iranian Air Force pilots, who are professionals trained to recognize all matter of airborne craft and atmospheric phenomena, could not identify a meteor shower, or airplane debris.
So I offer the question- why are a group of Air Force combat pilots unable to recognize a meteor?
Unable to identify a meteor… to the troubling extent that they were attempting to fire their weapons on it?
Seemingly, our analysis raises more questions than answers.
Was the 1976 Tehran UFO Sighting a series of meteor showers?
Or was it… something else?
"Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains spill out."--Charles Fort
Thanks for reading, Substackers! As always, please share your thoughts!
Timothy B. Fling
Writer and Creator
“Ars Longa, Vita Brevis
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