BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:40 A.M.) – A military aircraft belonging to the U.S. Air Force intercepted a passenger plane of the Iranian Air Transport Company “Mahan Air” that was traveling from Tehran to Beirut, over Syrian airspace on Thursday, the Iranian national radio and television agency reported.
According to the agency’s statement, a number of passengers were injured as a result of the sudden rise and fall of the plane.
Initial reports indicated that the fighters were Israeli, but Iranian television confirmed that the fighters that intercepted the plane were American, not the former.
In a statement, the Israeli army denied that the aircraft that participated in the Iranian plane incident belonged to the them
The commander of the Iranian passenger plane also confirmed, on Iranian television, that the fighter who approached his plane was American.
He added that he reached out to the leaders of the fighter, as they identified themselves as Americans.
Beirut International Airport announced on Thursday evening, that a number of passengers of the Iranian plane, which landed at Beirut Airport, after being subjected to air harassment by the U.S. warplane, were slightly injured as a result of the emergency landing made by its captain.
“The plane landed at the Beirut Airport at 8:30 P.M.(local time) and all the wounded passengers were caused due to the rapid descent and panic, and there is an elderly man and his condition is stable,” Beirut airport chief Fadi Al-Hassan said in a press statement.
The U.S. has since confirmed that their F-15 jet intercepted the Iranian aircraft from a “safe distance” as it allegedly approached the Al-Tanf Zone near the Iraqi border.
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