Flying Saucer Fever Grips Iran, Theories Abound

ABC ^ | 04/28/04 | ABC

[freedom44]

Flying saucer fever has gripped Iran after dozens of sightings in the last few days. Fanciful cartoons of alien spacecraft have adorned the front pages.

State television on Wednesday showed a sparkling white disc it said was filmed over Tehran on Tuesday night.

More colorful Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have been spotted beaming out green, red, blue and purple rays over the northern cities of Tabriz and Ardebil and in the Caspian Sea province of Golestan, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Newspapers and agencies reported people rushing out into the streets in eight towns on Tuesday night to watch a bright extraterrestrial light dipping in and out of the clouds.

An airforce officer in the Revolutionary Guards was quoted in the reformist Vagha-ye Etefaghiyeh daily saying Iran's Supreme National Security Council should investigate whether these visitors from afar had hostile intent.

But Sa'dollah Nasiri-Qeydari, head of the Astronomical Society of Iran, told Reuters the stories were unfounded.

"In my opinion, flying saucers do not exist," he said, insisting his telescopes would have picked up invaders from outer space.

"The people who have seen these things are not experts - farmers, villagers and pilots," he added.

He said what people reported was consistent with the planet Venus, whose intense light in its current position would be given different hues by being filtered through the atmosphere.

[Rutles4Ever]

Sorry, just the U.S. (or Russian) Air Force testing some experimental craft...

[nuconvert]

UFO PonG

[Fitzcarraldo]

Most likely these with some PsyOps features attached.

[Dialup Llama]

Normally these celestial hosts are present during times in which a nation's ruler dies or is overthrown. Its a sign that means change.

[Lunatic Fringe]

"The people who have seen these things are not experts - farmers, villagers and pilots,"

Huh?

[freedom44]

Really?

Very interesting.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Its a sign that means change.

Especially in this modern age when an armed unmanned aircraft can turn a human target into ashes:

[theDentist]

Now you know why so few people fly Iranian airlines when the alternative of using camels or walking is available.

[4mycountry]

Oh boy. I'm as big a sci-fi fan as the next guy, but come on. Have some common sense.

[muleskinner]

Area 51 bump

[RightWhale]

It has been discovered that the primitive peoples of Iran will eagerly invent a whole mythology and replace their present socio-governmental system at the drop of a hat from a UFO. The CIA has been busily populating the skies of Iran with these UFOs. The green and purple rays are a nice touch, very effective. A revolution for the cost of a few stage props.

[hgro]

Art Bell alert!!

[Bismarck]

Seems that those poor peasants have read too many pages of the Koran, now they have become delusional...

[Diogenesis]

Iran is ad hoc Area 52.

[Wacka]

State television on Wednesday showed a sparkling white disc it said was filmed over Tehran on Tuesday night.


It's called the moon!

[johnfrink]

"He said what people reported was consistent with the planet Venus, whose intense light in its current position would be given different hues by being filtered through the atmosphere."

Wow, I'm surprised he didn't settle for the old "it must be weather balloons" excuse.

[pwatson]

Sounds like Skunk Works is field testing its 3 generations ahead of current technology craft again. Good hope they zap a few Wahhabist...

[johnfrink]

Ha!

[nuconvert]

Boy, you got my hopes up.