Iran’s Zarif Blasts US for Risking 'Disaster’ for Civilian Airliner
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted the United States on Friday for risking a disaster after a US warplane’s fly-by of an Iranian civilian airliner led it to injury of some civilians on-board.
“U.S. illegally occupies territory of another State and then harasses a scheduled civil airliner—endangering innocent civilian passengers—ostensibly to protect its occupation forces,” Zarif said on Twitter, adding, “Audacity to compound lawlessness upon lawlessness. These outlaws must be stopped before disaster.”
Two US fighter jets came close to a Mahan Air passenger plane in Syrian airspace on Thursday, causing the pilot to quickly change altitude to avoid collision.
A video posted on Friday by Iran’s IRIB news agency showed a jet from the window of a plane and blood on the face of a passenger – reportedly as a result from an injury sustained during the sudden altitude change.
IRIB initially reported a single Israeli jet had come near the plane but later quoted the pilot as saying there were two jets which identified themselves as American.
The pilot of the passenger plane contacted the jet pilots to warn them about keeping a safe distance and the jet pilots identified themselves as American, IRIB reported.
The plane later landed in Beirut, safely evacuating its passengers, some of whom were injured.
After refueling, it immediately took off and returned to Tehran’s Imam Khomeini without any harassment, media reports say.
