IRAN - 1976

US Department of Defense

Declassified 31 Dec 1982

UFO sighting, Tehran, Iran 19 & 20 Sep 1976


This report forwards information concerning the sighting of an UFO in Iran on 19 September 1976.

A. At about 1230 AM on 19 Sep 76 the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) command post received telephone calls from citizens living in the Shemiran area of Tehran saying that they had seen strange objects in the Sky. Some reported a kind of Bird-like object while others reported a helicopter with a light on. There were no helicopters airborne at that time, the command post called BG Yousefi, Assistant Deputy Commander of Operations , after he told the citizen it was only stars and had talked to Mehrabad tower he decided to look for himself, he noticed an object in the sky similar to a star bigger and brighter, he decided to scramble an F-4 from Shahrokhi AFB to investigate.

B. At 0130 HRS on the 19th the F-4 took off and proceeded to a point about 40 NM North of Tehran, due to its brilliance the object was easily visible from 70 Miles away. As the F-4 approached a range of 25 NM he lost all instrumentation and communications (UHF and Intercom). He broke off the intercept and headed back to Shahrokhi. When the F-4 away from the object and apparently was no longer a threat to it the aircraft regained all instrumentation and communications. At 0140 HRS a second F-4 was launched, the backseater acquired a radar lock on at 27 NM. 12 O’Clock high position with the VC (Rate of closure) at 150 NMPH. As the range decreased to 25 NM the object moved away at a speed that was visible on the radar scope and stayed at 25 NM.

C. The size of the radar return was comparable to that of a 707 tanker. The visual size of the object was difficult to discern because of its intense brilliance. The light that it gave off was that of flashing strobe lights arranged in a rectangular pattern Blue, Green, Red and Orange in color. The sequence of the lights was so fast that all the colors could be seen at once. The object and pursuing F-4 continued on a course to the south of Tehran when another brightly lighted object, estimated to be one half to one third the apparent size of the moon, came out of the object. This second object headed straight toward the F-4 at a very fast rate of speed. The pilot attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile at the object but at that instant his weapons control panel went off and he lost all communications(UHF and Interphone). At this point the pilot initiated a turn and negative G Drive to get away. As he turned the object fell in trail at what appeared to be about 3-4 NM. As he continued in his turn away from the primary object the second object went to the inside of his turn then returned to the primary object for a perfect rejoin.

D. Shortly after the second object joined up with the primary object another object appeared to come out of the other side of the primary object going straight down at a great rate of speed. The F-4 crew had regained communications and the weapons control panel and watched the object approach the ground anticipating a large explosion. This object appeared to come to rest gently on the earth and cast a very bright light over an area of about 2-3 kilometers. The crew descended from their altitude of 26 M to 15 M and continued to observe and mark the objects position. They had some difficulty in adjusting their night visibility for landing so after orbiting Mehrabad a few times they went out for straight in landing. There was a lot of interference on the UHF and each time they passed through a MAG. Bearing of 150 degree from Mehrabad they lost their communications (UHF and Interphone) and the INS fluctuated from 30 Degrees – 50 Degrees. The one civil airliner that was approaching Mehrabad during this same time experienced communications failure in the same vicinity (Kilo Zulu) but did not report seeing anything. While the F-4 was on a long final approach the crew noticed another cylinder shaped object (About the size of a T-Bird at 10 NM) with bright steady lights on each end and a flasher in the middle. When queried the tower stated there was no other known traffic in the area. During the time that the object passed over the F-4 the tower did not have a visual on it but picked it up after the pilot told them to look between the mountains and the refinery.

E. During daylight the F-4 crew was taken out to the area in a helicopter where the object apparently had landed. Nothing was noticed at the spot where they thought the object landed (A dry lake bed) but as they circled off to the west of the area they picked up a very noticeable beeper signal. At the point where the return was the loudest ws a small house with a garden. They landed and asked the people within if they had noticed anything strange last night. The people talked about a loud noise and a very bright light like lightening. The aircraft and area where the object is believed to have landed are being checked for possible radiation.

RO Comments: [Blanked out] actual information contained in this report was obtained from source in conversation with a sub-source, and IIAF pilot of one of the F-4s. More information will be forwarded when it becomes available.

23 Sep 1976