Report: Iranian Fears of Israeli Attack Led to Military Mishaps
Iranian fears of an Israeli airstrike on its nuclear facilities led its military to mistakenly fire on civilian airplanes and its own military aircraft, the New York Times reported.
The 2007 and 2008 attacks, in which the civilian aircraft were fired on and intercepted by Iranian fighter jets, were documented in a classified U.S. intelligence report from 2008, titled “Operational Mishaps by Air Defense Units,” which the newspaper said in Wednesday’s report was recently examined for a new book.
The Iranian military reportedly became nervous after Israel bombed a nuclear reactor under construction in Syria in September 2007, and after Israel held a major air exercise over the Mediterranean the following year that looked like it was simulating an attack on Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant.
At least four civilian airliners were fired on by Iranian air defense units in 2007 and 2008, as was an Iranian F-14 fighter jet.
The Iranian military also began training for an attack on Israel, using firing ranges that resembled the northern Israeli city of Haifa and the Dimona nuclear facility, according to the report.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
