In the early morning hours of September 19, 1976, two F-4 Phantom II jet fighters of the Imperial Iranian Air Force were scrambled to investigate a mysterious object spotted on radar flying near restricted airspace over Tehran. What ensued was one of the most dramatic and baffling UFO encounters in history, an event that is still debated and discussed over 45 years later.
At approximately 12:30 AM that morning, the Imperial Iranian Air Force command post in Tehran started receiving calls about a bright light hovering in the sky. Air traffic controllers observed the object on radar screens and noted that it was much too large and fast to be an aircraft. As it changed position suddenly and headed toward a restricted zone, two F-4 Phantom II jets armed with AIM-9 sidewinder missiles were dispatched from Shahrokhi Air Base to identify the object.
As the F-4s approached the coordinates at a range of 27 nautical miles, the pilots could see a brightly glowing object in the distance that they would later describe as a giant star-like light, estimated to be over a mile wide. Each time they tried to close in on the object, their instrumentation and communications equipment would mysteriously fail. One pilot would later state “The object was flashing with intense red, green, orange and blue lights so bright that I was not able to see its body.”
After several attempts to engage the UFO failed, one of the jet fighters was ordered to fire on the object. As the air-to-air missile streaked toward it, the UFO released a bright beam that enveloped the entire aircraft and rendered its electrical and navigational systems inoperable. Now in control only by inertia, the pilot had to make an emergency ejection and parachute to safety. The disabled plane headed toward the ground but regained function just moments before impact. The second jet, still circling at a distance, was then ordered back to base.
In the aftermath of the encounter, the Iranian government released an official four-page U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report detailing the event. It concluded that the aircraft interacted with an unidentified aerial object over Tehran. The pilots and multiple expert witnesses interviewed could not explain what had occurred. The aerial object seemed to exhibit intelligent control and technology far more advanced than any known aircraft.
The Tehran incident remains an unsolved mystery. With its dramatic and harrowing story of military pilots encountering a UFO, it helped bring international attention to the phenomenon. Skeptics argue there are rational explanations, but to UFO believers, this case provides clear evidence that incredible events are taking place in our skies. Over four decades later, the lingering question remains – what was that bizarre glowing object the jet fighters encountered over Iran that night? Its identity and origin continue to be hotly debated, ensuring the Tehran UFO incident remains one of the most fascinating unsolved encounters in history.
