1976 Tehran Incident — DIA Cable "The U.S. Government and 'The Iran Case'"

Brief

On the night of 18-19 September 1976, two F-4 Phantoms scrambled from Shahrokhi AFB intercepted an unidentified object over Tehran reported by multiple civilians. The first aircraft lost all instrumentation and communications at 25 nautical miles and turned back; the second achieved radar lock, but when the crew attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile, all weapons and communications systems went offline instantaneously. The primary object ejected at least two secondary objects — one of which performed a pursuit-and-return maneuver against the F-4, and another that descended to earth and illuminated a 2-3 kilometer footprint on the ground. The cable was distributed to the White House, CIA, Secretary of State, and Joint Chiefs, and was declassified via FOIA in 1977.

Metadata

Agency

Defense Intelligence Agency

Release

1976-09-19

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

3 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED (released via FOIA 1977)

Tags

Tehran, Iran, 1976, F-4 Phantom, radar contact, weapons-system failure, AIM-9 missile failure, electronic interference, multi-object, secondary object ejection, ground landing, radiation check, cylinder-shaped object, Shahrokhi AFB, Mehrabad

Key points

• Incident began at approximately 12:30 AM on 19 September 1976 when four civilian phone calls from Tehran's Shemiran district reported strange objects; the duty officer observed the object himself before ordering an F-4 scramble.p.3
• First F-4 lost all instrumentation and UHF/intercom at 25 NM range; all systems were restored the moment the aircraft turned away from the object.p.3
• Second F-4 achieved radar lock at 27 NM with a closure rate of 150 NMPH; the object accelerated to maintain a constant 25 NM standoff distance on the radar scope.p.3
• Radar return was comparable in cross-section to a 707 tanker; visual identification was impossible due to the object's intense brilliance.p.3
• At the instant the pilot attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile, the weapons control panel went offline and all communications were simultaneously lost.p.3
• A secondary object ejected from the primary, pursued the F-4, tracked the pilot to the inside of his evasive turn, then returned and rejoined the primary object.p.3
• A third object descended rapidly from the primary, came to rest on the ground, and illuminated the surrounding area over approximately 2-3 kilometers.p.3
• On approach to Mehrabad, UHF and interphone were lost each time the crew crossed a magnetic bearing of 150 degrees from Fhrarad; instruments fluctuated 30-50 degrees at the same waypoint.p.3
• Post-incident helicopter search detected a strong beeper signal near a residential house; occupants confirmed a loud noise and bright light like lightning the prior night.p.3
• Distribution of the cable reached the White House, CIA, Secretary of State, Army and Air Force Chiefs of Staff, Chief of Naval Operations, DIA, and senior European commands.p.2

Verbatim

• Due to its brilliance the object was easily visible from 70 miles away.

  p.3

• The size of the radar return was comparable to that of a 707 tanker.

  p.3

• another brightly lighted object, estimated to be one half to one third the apparent size of the moon, came out of the original object. This second object headed straight toward the F-4 at a very fast rate of speed.

  p.3

• 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.

  p.3

• The aircraft and area where the object is believed to have landed are being checked for possible radiation.

  p.3

• UFO researcher Charles Huffer took an interest in securing a copy of this document while in Germany, but all his efforts met with official rebuffs.

  p.2

Most interesting

• The distribution list reaching the White House was explained by U.S. agencies, when queried by IUR, as standard procedure for all signal traffic from the Middle East — meaning the routing reflects geographic sensitivity, not special handling for UAP content.
• During the final approach to Mehrabad, a separate cylinder-shaped object approximately the size of a T-33 appeared at 10,000 feet with steady end lights and a mid-body flasher; ground radar had no track on it until the pilot directed tower attention to it.
• A civilian airliner approaching Mehrabad at the same time independently experienced communications failure in the same geographic area — designated KILO ZULU in the cable — without visually observing anything, providing a corroborating non-military data point.
• The primary object's strobe pattern — blue, green, red, and orange in a rectangular arrangement — was noted by IUR to violate both FAA regulations (FAR 43 91.1) and ICAO standards, which prohibit blue lights on aircraft.
• The cable entered public circulation through a FOIA request filed by researcher Charles Huffer during a U.S. trip after official channels in Germany had refused him entirely; IUR then reproduced the full teletype message in print.
• The suspected landing site was a dry lake bed, but the beeper signal that anchored the ground search led instead to an inhabited residence — the signal's origin was not explained in the cable, and further reporting was promised but not present in this document.