Iran reportedly forces Western aircraft to land in its territory

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iranian news reports said on Tuesday that Iran forced a Western aircraft that accidentally entered its airspace to land, then allowed the plane to continue after questioning its passengers. The nationality of the plane remained unclear. The semi-official Fars news agency said it was American, but the state-owned Al-Alam television quoted an unidentified senior Iranian official saying it belonged to a European aid agency. Neither report said when the incident took place. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi said he has no information about the case. Fars said the airplane was carrying five military officials and three civilians from Turkey to Afghanistan when it "unintentionally" entered Iranian airspace. It added that Iranian fighters guided the plane to an Iranian airport, the passengers were questioned, and a day later were released and allowed to continue to their destination.