Case · C-039

Tehran 1976: two Iranian F-4s chase a light, the case in the DIA reports

Sky north of Tehran, Iran · Iran · Sep 19, 1976

In flight Mixed witness types Radar

What happened

On the night of September 19, 1976, phone calls from Tehran reported an intense light in the sky north of the city, and the Iranian air force scrambled two F-4 fighters. According to the report transmitted by the U.S. defense attaché, the first aircraft lost instruments and communications as it approached and regained them as it moved away; the second locked onto a target with its onboard radar and, while the pilot was trying to launch a missile, lost the weapons control panel and communications. The message was distributed to the White House, the Department of State, the CIA and the DIA; an internal item from U.S. Air Forces in Europe noted that no further explanation had arrived.

Proposed explanation

Philip J. Klass and James Oberg have pointed to the planet Jupiter as the first light observed and to equipment failures (one of the two F-4s had a history of electrical faults) for the malfunctions; Brian Dunning (Skeptoid) adds meteors from minor showers active that night. Other analysts dispute these explanations, citing the pilots' direct testimony.

Official investigation

Imperial Iranian Air Force; U.S. Defense Attaché in Tehran and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA); documents later released by the NSA

Official documents

1. Routing and Transmittal Slip from Louis E. Foster, DIA, with a DIA summary sheet and US Defense Attache report on the sighting of a UFO in Iran on 19 September 1976 · Defense Intelligence Agency (published by the NSA) · 1976
2. «Now You See It, Now You Don't!» (cap. Henry S. Shields, HQ USAFE), MIJI Quarterly, 1978 · U.S. Air Forces in Europe (published by the NSA) · 1978

Sources

1. Skeptoid #315 (Brian Dunning), “The Tehran 1976 UFO” (analysis, skeptical)
2. Metabunk, “The 1976 Iran F4 UAP/UFO case” (discussion of the documents and explanations) (analysis, skeptical)
3. Wikipedia (en) – 1976 Tehran UFO incident (other)

Open in the interactive archive The whole section: Map of UAP and USO cases

UAPgrade's entries are compiled with artificial intelligence (three verifiers with opposing roles) and checked against the sources listed above: how we work. Have a document that changes this entry? Bring it to the Investigations Unit.