CASE FILE · DD-22
1976 Tehran F-4 interception
Period · 1976Place · Tehran, Iran
01 · OVERVIEW
Case overview
Before dawn on 19 September 1976, the Iranian Air Force scrambled F-4 Phantom fighters after civilian calls from Tehran. An information report later circulated through the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency says the crews saw an intensely luminous object and smaller lights, with temporary communications and weapons-system failures during the approach. The report and scramble are documented, but complete raw radar data are not public and no single cause for the object or malfunctions has been established.
An Iranian F-4E of the type scrambled in the case; this is not a photograph of the specific aircraft involved.
Government of Iran material · Wikimedia Commons · public domain ↗03 · IMAGE CONTEXT
Image analysis
The photograph shows the interception platform, not the reported object. Assessment should rest on the timeline and limits of the archival report rather than this contextual image.04 · EVIDENCE REVIEW
Nature of the evidence
DIA/NSA archival documents, fighter scrambles and multiple aircrew reports
Object identity, completeness of radar records and whether malfunctions were causally related
Government recordMultiple witnessesVideo · radar
05 · SOURCE TRAIL