Iran has urged the United Nations to hold the United States responsible for the interception of an Iranian passenger plane by two U.S. fighter jets in the air over Syria last month, calling it “unfair” and an “adventurous act”.
Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said in identical letters to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council circulating on Friday that Iran “expresses its strongest objections to this violation of international law and will pursue the issue through relevant international agencies “.
Ravanchi said a Mahan Airlines Airbus A310 en route from Tehran to Beirut on July 23 was “aggressively and unexpectedly intercepted” by two U.S. F-15 fighter jets while traveling through internationally specified air corridors in Syrian airspace.
“In response to the offensive and dangerous maneuvers of the United States’ Fighter Jets and to save the lives of civilian planes and passengers, the pilot had to change altitude abruptly, causing injuries to the passengers. board, “said the ambassador.
‘Standard visual inspection’
US Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the Central Command, told the Associated Press at the time of the incident that a US F-15 “conducted a standard visual inspection” of the Iranian aircraft “at a safe distance of about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) from the airline “.
He said the inspection was intended to ensure the safety of US-led coalition troops in al-Tanf in Syria as the plane flew over that area. Stedsk said once the aircraft was identified as a passenger aircraft “the F-15 opened safe distance from the aircraft”.
The Iranian ambassador said in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the organization of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization contacted Syrian authorities and called for “a rapid and accurate investigation into the incident”.
He said Iranian authorities also launched a probe after the plane returned from Beirut, Lebanon.
The results of both investigations will be released “after the revision and finalization of the collected data and information” by both teams, Ravanchi said.
“It goes without saying that the action taken by the United States’ Fighter Jets is a flagrant violation of aviation security and civil aviation freedom, reflected in the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and its additions, and a breach of the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Civil Aviation Safety, ‘he said.
“It is the duty of the United Nations to reject such an unjust and yet adventurous act and to hold the United States responsible for this irresponsible conduct.”
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