IncidentTehran F-4 Incident (19 September 1976)

aka Tehran F-4 Incident (19 September 1976)

Two Iranian Imperial Air Force F-4 Phantoms scrambled to intercept a luminous object over Tehran; both lost weapons, communications, and instrumentation upon approach.

phenomenologically-open Two interceptors with independent weapons and instrumentation failures, named pilots on the record, and a DIA assessment distributed government-wide — the strongest electromagnetic-effects entry in the corpus.

status history (1)

2026-06-09 · unannotated → phenomenologically-open — initial annotation sweep (Epic J.F4)

An Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II — the aircraft type that engaged the Tehran object on 19 September 1976. Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · IRIAF · 1982

An Iranian F-4E Phantom II — the variant flown by Lt. Jafari during the Tehran incident. Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · IIAF · Unkn

At 00:30 local time on 19 September 1976, Tehran’s Mehrabad control tower began receiving calls from civilians reporting a bright object over the city. At 01:30 an F-4 from Shahrokhi Air Base was scrambled. As it approached, the pilot reported complete loss of instrumentation and UHF/intercom communications; he aborted, and the systems recovered. A second F-4 launched at 01:40 piloted by Maj. Parviz Jafari with weapons systems officer Lt. Jafari Damirian. As they approached the object at supersonic speed, a smaller luminous object emerged from the primary and headed for the F-4; Maj. Jafari attempted to launch an AIM-9 missile; the weapons control panel went dead. The incident is recorded in DIA case 6 846 0139 76, distributed within 24 hours to the White House, the Joint Chiefs, the CIA, the NSA, and the Secretary of State.

Notable & intriguing

The DIA case file 6 846 0139 76, declassified in 1977, was distributed within 24 hours of the incident to the White House, Joint Chiefs of Staff, CIA, NSA, and Secretary of State.

DIA distribution list, attached to DIA case 6 846 0139 76, declassified 1977
Maj. Parviz Jafari testified on the record at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on 12 November 2007 that ‘the moon was up — we could see it next to the object. The object was the size of the full moon.’

National Press Club UFO press conference, 12 November 2007; transcript, James E. Fox / Leslie Kean
The DIA Defense Information Report Evaluation attached to the file rates the case on every category — reliability of information, value of information, utility of information, and uniqueness — as ‘High.’

DIA DIRE evaluation form, 12 October 1976, attached to case 6 846 0139 76

Public-record items already documented about this subject. Folklore is labelled. Sources cited where the specificity warrants it.

Suggested watching

UFO Files — Iran's UFO Coverup (2005) episode

dir. various · History / various · 44m

History Channel reconstruction of the September 19 1976 incident with the two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4s, including the DIA Defense Intelligence Report in facsimile.

the DIA memo is the irreducible piece of evidence
The Phenomenon (2020) documentary

dir. James Fox · Prime / Apple / various · 1h 39m

Fox's film includes the Tehran case among its survey of internationally documented cases.

essential context

Appears in interpretive theories

Crypto-physicalist / nuts-and-bolts hypothesis — cites as evidence

More — incident