Parviz Jafari

F-4 Phantom Pilot

One of the interceptor pilots dispatched during the Tehran incident. Reported visual observations, radar contact, and temporary equipment malfunctions during the encounter. Parviz Jafari is a retired General of the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) best known for piloting the second F-4 Phantom II during the 1976 Tehran UFO Incident. On the night of September 19, 1976, Jafari was scrambled to intercept a brightly luminous, high-speed object that had already caused instrument and communications failures in the first intercepting F-4. During the encounter, Jafari’s radar acquired a lock on an object estimated to be the size of a Boeing 707. As he closed to within 27 nautical miles, the object flashed intense red, green, orange, and blue lights. When Jafari attempted to fire an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, his weapons control panel, instrumentation, and communications suddenly failed. He witnessed a smaller object detach from the primary craft and accelerate toward his jet, forcing an evasive maneuver, before the main object accelerated away at extreme speed.