U.S. F-15 fighter harassment Mahan Air plane over Syria

Several passengers on a Mahan Air flight on the Tehran-Beirut route were injured Thursday while flying over Syria after the pilot was forced to make a sudden change of altitude to avoid a collision with an American fighter plane. According to Iranian media, the fighter “harassed” the Airbus.

The U.S. military admitted that the fighter was its own but noted that its F-15 was flying at a safe distance. Captain Bill Urban, the senior spokesman for U.S. Central Command, explained that the plane was performing “a standard visual inspection of a passenger plane at a safe distance of approximately 1,000 meters tonight.

“The visual inspection occurred to ensure the safety of coalition personnel in the At Tanf garrison,” Urban said. “Once the F-15 pilot identified the plane as a Mahan Air passenger plane, the F-15 safely opened the distance to the plane”. He added that the interception was carried out in accordance with international standards.

However, for the pilot of the Iranian plane, which belongs to Mahan Air, the fighter’s approach was not at all safe. The fighter came within 100 meters of the Iranian Airbus A310, state television said.

The aircraft, at the altitude at which the commercial flight was flying, must maintain a distance of at least 600 meters to ensure that they do not collide with each other, although planes traveling so close can still be affected by the turbulent wake of the other aircraft.

Flight data recorded by the FlightRadar24.com aircraft locator shows that the aircraft rose from 34,000 feet to 34,600 feet in less than two minutes at the approximate time of the incident, and dropped back down to 34,000 feet one minute later.

Images posted on social networks show the nerves and fear that were experienced inside the plane during the altitude change maneuver and the minutes afterward. The recording shows a child with a blindfold on his head. The official Iranian IRIB news agency spoke to a passenger who explained that his head had hit the plane’s ceiling, and a video showed an elderly passenger lying on the ground.

All the passengers left the plane, some with minor injuries, the head of Beirut airport told Reuters.

The incident brought some confusion. At first, the Iranian media accused Israel of being behind the maneuver and spoke of two fighters, instead of one.

Tensions have risen between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when US President Donald Trump concluded Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and re-imposed sanctions that have undermined Iran’s economy.

But in addition, Israel and the United States have long accused Mahan Air of transporting weapons for guerrillas linked to Iran in Syria and elsewhere. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, arguing that it was financially supporting Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi announced that the necessary legal and political action would be taken, according to the ministry’s website.

By La Vanguardia

Photo: Dmitriy Pichugin / Wikimedia