An Israeli soldier has been allowed to leave Iran after the plane that she was a passenger on was forced to make an emergency landing in the Irainian city of Shiraz when the Captain fell seriously ill.
The incident has similarities with the storyline in the hit Apple TV+ original ‘Tehran’ in which two Israeli tourists are briefly detained by the Iranian security services when the plane they are passengers on is also forced to divert to Iran.
In the Apple TV+ show, the emergency diversion was part of a ruse designed to get a Mossad hacker-agent into Iran. There is, of course, no suspicion that last week’s diversion of a flydubai aircraft was for similar negarious reasons.
The Boeing 737 departed Tashkent in Uzbekistan bound for Dubai at 4:36 am last Thursday but ended up diverting to the southern Iranian city of Shiraz when the Captain reportedly fell unconscious.
The aircraft landed around 50 minutes later and remained on the ground in Iran for around 10 hours so that a replacement crew could be brought from Dubai.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) confirmed that an Israeli soldier was onboard Flydubai flight FZ-1942 who was returning to Israel after visiting her family in Uzbekistan.
The IDF confirmed that the passengers had been moved into the airport for several hours, but everyone onboard was allowed to complete their journey to Dubai.
On Tuesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened drone attacks on Israel and other targets across the Middle East. The same drones are being used by Russia against Ukraine.
Relations between Iran and Israel have soured even more than normal after accusations made in Tehran that the Israelies are promoting dissent in the country following the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police.
Truly not a story.