TheImmortal
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ws...cepted-by-jet-fighters-over-syria-11595545321
A U.S. F-15 jet fighter flying near an American military base in the Syrian city of al-Tanf came within roughly 1,000 meters of an Iranian passenger jet, a U.S. defense official said Thursday.
The official said the F-15 kept a safe distance from the airplane.
A second F-15 fighter jet was in the vicinity as well but wasn’t close enough to make a visual inspection of the commercial airliner, the official added.
Earlier, Iranian state media reported that two jet fighters had intercepted an Iranian passenger plane over Syria, forcing the aircraft to descend abruptly before landing in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut and injuring several passengers on board.
After first describing one jet as Israeli, an Iranian state broadcaster quoted the Iranian pilot as saying the plane had been intercepted by two jets identifying themselves to him as American.
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Israel’s military said it wouldn’t comment on foreign press reports.
The incident comes after months of building acrimony, and a string of mysterious fires and explosions in the Islamic Republic in recent weeks.
Tensions have led to mistakes in the region’s contentious airspace in the recent past. In January, as Iran launched missiles at a base in Iraq housing U.S. troops and its air defenses were on high alert for an American retaliatory attack, the Revolutionary Guard mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner as it took off from Tehran, killing 176 people on board.
The Iranian broadcaster, IRIB, aired a video showing one man bleeding from his forehead, saying he had banged his head when the plane quickly changed altitude, and another elderly man sprawled unconscious on the floor of the plane. In another video, the broadcaster showed passengers screaming.
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The Iranian passenger plane, which was headed to Beirut from Tehran, belonged to Mahan Air, an airline often used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. and Israel accuse of transporting arms and money to Iran-backed militias in the Middle East.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran had told the United Nations and the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which handles Washington’s interests in the country, that Iran would hold the U.S. responsible if anything happened to the plane en route back to Tehran. Mr. Mousavi also said legal and political measures would be taken after Iran had investigated the incident.
Tensions have been building between Washington and Tehran since President Trump withdrew from an international nuclear accord with Iran in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. They reached a peak in January, when a U.S. drone killed Iran’s most prominent military commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq.
Recently, unexplained explosions and fires in Iran have hit a nuclear facility, a missile base and a port where seven ships erupted in fire. A fire in a clinic in Tehran killed 19 people.
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Iran has said most of the incidents were accidents. An Iranian parliamentary commission this week visited the Natanz nuclear facility, where a centrifuge assembly workshop was destroyed in a large explosion, and said the blast was most likely caused by sabotage, without elaborating. Foreign analysts have said the explosion was most likely carried out by Israeli or U.S. intelligence.
A U.S. F-15 jet fighter flying near an American military base in the Syrian city of al-Tanf came within roughly 1,000 meters of an Iranian passenger jet, a U.S. defense official said Thursday.
The official said the F-15 kept a safe distance from the airplane.
A second F-15 fighter jet was in the vicinity as well but wasn’t close enough to make a visual inspection of the commercial airliner, the official added.
Earlier, Iranian state media reported that two jet fighters had intercepted an Iranian passenger plane over Syria, forcing the aircraft to descend abruptly before landing in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut and injuring several passengers on board.
After first describing one jet as Israeli, an Iranian state broadcaster quoted the Iranian pilot as saying the plane had been intercepted by two jets identifying themselves to him as American.
ADVERTISEMENT
Israel’s military said it wouldn’t comment on foreign press reports.
The incident comes after months of building acrimony, and a string of mysterious fires and explosions in the Islamic Republic in recent weeks.
Tensions have led to mistakes in the region’s contentious airspace in the recent past. In January, as Iran launched missiles at a base in Iraq housing U.S. troops and its air defenses were on high alert for an American retaliatory attack, the Revolutionary Guard mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner as it took off from Tehran, killing 176 people on board.
The Iranian broadcaster, IRIB, aired a video showing one man bleeding from his forehead, saying he had banged his head when the plane quickly changed altitude, and another elderly man sprawled unconscious on the floor of the plane. In another video, the broadcaster showed passengers screaming.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Iranian passenger plane, which was headed to Beirut from Tehran, belonged to Mahan Air, an airline often used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. and Israel accuse of transporting arms and money to Iran-backed militias in the Middle East.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran had told the United Nations and the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which handles Washington’s interests in the country, that Iran would hold the U.S. responsible if anything happened to the plane en route back to Tehran. Mr. Mousavi also said legal and political measures would be taken after Iran had investigated the incident.
Tensions have been building between Washington and Tehran since President Trump withdrew from an international nuclear accord with Iran in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. They reached a peak in January, when a U.S. drone killed Iran’s most prominent military commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq.
Recently, unexplained explosions and fires in Iran have hit a nuclear facility, a missile base and a port where seven ships erupted in fire. A fire in a clinic in Tehran killed 19 people.
ADVERTISEMENT
Iran has said most of the incidents were accidents. An Iranian parliamentary commission this week visited the Natanz nuclear facility, where a centrifuge assembly workshop was destroyed in a large explosion, and said the blast was most likely caused by sabotage, without elaborating. Foreign analysts have said the explosion was most likely carried out by Israeli or U.S. intelligence.
You guys so tough you don't need fighter jets to harass one.
