Person

Parviz Jafari

Also known as General Jafari, Jafari

Major, Imperial Iranian Air Force; F-4 Phantom II pilot (1976). Later General.
Retired General, Iranian Air Force

Parviz Jafari was an Imperial Iranian Air Force major and F-4 Phantom squadron commander who later became a general. In the early hours of 19 September 1976, after Tehran residents reported a brilliant object in the sky, he flew the second of two F-4s scrambled from Shahrokhi Air Base to intercept it. He is one of the very few fighter pilots ordered to fire on a UAP who has described it publicly.

At the 2007 National Press Club panel he said he locked the object on radar at 25 miles, with a return as big as a 707 tanker, and watched it flash red, green, orange and blue. When a smaller object detached and came towards him, he tried to fire a heat-seeking missile, but his weapons panel and radio failed. Another object appeared to land, lighting up the ground. The first F-4 had also lost its instruments and communications as it closed in.

The event is unusually well documented. A U.S. defense attaché report was circulated to the DIA, the National Security Council, the White House and the CIA, and the DIA evaluator called it "outstanding". Sceptic Philip Klass attributed the light to Jupiter and the failures to faulty equipment.

Sources: National Press Club (2007) · DIA report on the Tehran incident (1976) · Wikipedia

Facts and claims

claimed Pilot of the second F-4 sent to intercept the object over Tehran. In public testimony at the National Press Club in 2007 he described attempting to fire a missile when his weapons panel and radio failed. — Parviz Jafari Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 26:32
claimed He says that as squadron commander he flew the second F-4 and locked on with radar at 25 miles, with a return comparable to a 707 tanker, while the object flashed red, green, orange and blue. — Parviz Jafari Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 25:45
claimed He says smaller objects separated from the main one, that when one came towards him he tried to fire a heat-seeking missile but his weapons panel went out and his radio was garbled, and that one object landed in an open area, radiating enough light to see the sand. — Parviz Jafari Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 26:40
documented The U.S. defense attaché report of the incident, circulated by the DIA, records that the second F-4's weapons control panel and communications went dead as the pilot prepared to fire an AIM-9; the DIA evaluator called it an outstanding case that met all criteria for a valid study of the UFO phenomenon. Source: U.S. Defense Attaché / DIA report: UFO sighting in Iran, 19 September 1976 (NSA-released reproduction)
claimed Sceptic Philip Klass argued that the object was the planet Jupiter and that the aircraft problems were ordinary equipment failures. Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)