The Boeing 737 airliner changed course after declaring a medical emergency.
By Erin Viner
The IDF has revealed that a young female IDF soldier was aboard a flight home from a family vacation in Uzbekistan when the pilot had to suddenly reroute from Dubai to Shiraz, reportedly about two and a half hours into the flight.
“Last Thursday, an airplane (of a foreign airline) had unexpectedly landed in Iran after one of the passengers had a medical incident, which led to the flight changing course,” the military said in a statement, adding that, “One of the passengers on board was a lone IDF soldier who was on a connecting flight home from a family visit abroad.”
Local media reported that the soldier immediately contacted Israeli authorities and was ordered by the Mossad intelligence agency to speak only in Russian. ‘Lone soldiers’ are those from other nations who volunteer to serve in the Israeli army.
Iranian media, however, reported on the same day that a Fly Dubai flight that embarked from Tashkent, Uzbekistan en route to Dubai was forced to land at the Shiraz Airport after the pilot lost consciousness. The Iranian Civil Aviation Organization was cited by the state IRNA news agency as saying that it is conducting a joint investigation with the United Arab Emirates into the “serious incident.”
The IDF confirmed the flight departed four hours later “without interference.”
Israelis are prohibited from visiting the Islamic Republic. While citizens are permitted to travel through Iranian airspace, IDF soldiers are forbidden to do so. The Israeli military currently conducting a review of the situation, although it is unlikely that charges will be filed against the soldier as she is not serving in a unit in which she has access to sensitive security matters.
The Ayatollah regime considers Israel as an arch-enemy, and has repeatedly vowed to annihilate the Jewish State, and engages in denial of the Holocaust of the Jewish People. It routinely arrests what it claims to be “Israeli spies,” and it is unknown how an IDF soldier would have been treated had her presence become known.
Additionally, nationwide protests continue to sweep Iran over the death of a young woman who died in police custody after being arrested for insufficiently ‘Islamic’ clothing.