TEHRAN, Iran, Oct. 7, 2008

Iran Forced Hungarian Plane To Land

Aircraft Carrying Military Personnel Strayed Into Iranian Airspace Due To "Administrative Error"

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(AP)  Iran forced an aircraft carrying Hungarian military officials to land after it entered its airspace, Hungary's Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The plane was allowed to continue to Afghanistan after it was determined the entry was accidental.

The ministry said the airplane, carrying a four-member Hungarian military delegation, had strayed into Iran's airspace on Sept. 30 because of an "administrative error."

"After clearing up the problem, the airplane was able to continue its journey to Afghanistan," the ministry said in a statement released in Budapest.

The military personnel were part of a Hungarian team that took over direction of Kabul's international airport this month, it said, adding that they were flying in a civilian Hawker 800 plane rented from the private Hungarian firm JAS Cargoways.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency had initially reported that the plane was American and was carrying five military officials and three civilians from Turkey to Afghanistan when it was forced by the Iranian air force to land at an airport for questioning.

The report prompted a denial from the U.S. military's Central Command, which said in a statement from its headquarters in Doha, Qatar, that no American plane was involved.

Later, Iran's official Arabic-language television station, Al-Alam, quoted an unidentified senior Iranian military official as saying the plane belonged either to a British or Hungarian relief agency.

Both Iranian news reports said Iranian officials questioned the passengers and determined that the entry had been accidental, and that the plane was allowed to continue to Afghanistan the following day.


© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 12 Comments
by gce65 October 7, 2008 10:05 PM EDT
There are probably a dozen or so October Surprises that Bush/Cheney are working on all over the world. They are probably the greatest destabilizing force in the world right now and until January 19, 2009--the day they''re forced out of the White House.
Reply to this comment
by gce65 October 7, 2008 10:00 PM EDT
Lucky they didn''t shoot it down outright!
We''re all quite aware that Bush/Cheney/McSame would like to start a war with Iran.
And we''re all quite aware the CIA and others have used civilian aircraft for extraordinary rendition since about 2003.
Would it not be past them to test Iran''s reaction by sending an aircraft just like this to invade Iran''s airspace.
What might the US do if a similar aircraft invaded US airspace from, say, Cuba?
Reply to this comment
by liberalme October 7, 2008 7:14 PM EDT
LOL!!! liberalme folks!! hard to believe she is old enough to be a grandmother huh

Posted by jamesm12341

Wow jwind11--you got a big reaction on that one huh? Guess you''d better change your name again---everyone ignores you now, again, still. LOL
Reply to this comment
by larryhammick October 7, 2008 6:33 PM EDT
No corroboration from any government, any NGO, or any airline. The story is nothing more than Tehran''s routine propaganda.
Reply to this comment
by kretos35 October 7, 2008 6:22 PM EDT
Lets let Israel attack them and then let Israel fight on her won. If she wins good, if she is destroyed who cares?
As long as American''''''''s do not have to fight or pay anything I don''''''''t care what Israel does. Once Americans have to risk their lives and we as taxpayers have to foot the bill to ensure Israel keeps an upper hand i have a problem.
I am a non-jewish American, therefore the fate of Israel is insignifigant.

Posted by getoffmine1 at 12:08 PM : Oct 07, 2008


who cares israel !!! because of it everyone hate US
Reply to this comment
by displeased October 7, 2008 6:12 PM EDT
Do you realize what we would be paying for oil if Israel did not exist?
Posted by whatwhy001

I''m curious...how does Israel affect the price of our oil?
Reply to this comment
by mclam010 October 7, 2008 3:05 PM EDT
You will not have to worry about the US attacking Iran. Isreal will take care of whole problem very shortly. The only issue is there want be to much left there after the heat. Because you think it is HOT there now. It''s going to get hotter! The US has been the one holding Isreal back.
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by liberalme October 7, 2008 2:31 PM EDT
Bush will continue to attempt to "stay in power" for another 4 years right up to November 4th.

Why this criminal is still sitting in the White House is beyond me. He Cheney, Rumsfield, Rice and Rove should all be in the same 8X10 cell together, better yet, put them all in Abu Grabe.
Reply to this comment
by ohall36 October 7, 2008 2:04 PM EDT
Looks like the GOP try at cooking up an incident has failed. Since this story got started at Foxnews and Reuters, everyody is looking at each other wondering, what plane, where, when??? This was another ploy by the GOP and it didn''t get any legs to it. Try again..... Try thinking of a way to fix this economy and this countries problems. Yeah, try that McCain/Palin. You don''t have a clue, that is why you are and have been piggybacking off Obama''s ideas since this summer.......
Reply to this comment
by chris32324 October 7, 2008 1:35 PM EDT
even bush knows better then to start anything with iran,those guys really will shoot back.
Reply to this comment
by Gorevidal October 7, 2008 1:24 PM EDT
At least the Iranians didn''t shoot it down much like the captain of the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Fight 655 in 1988 killing all 290 passengers on board.

Oops
Reply to this comment
by truthspeake2 October 7, 2008 12:56 PM EDT
Looks like the October surprise was thwarted, McSame will have to go back to and rely on the issues of our time...
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