IDF Soldier Spends 9 Hours In Iran After Plane Diverted Due To Medical Emergency

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In the recently released Israeli television series “Tehran”, an Israeli couple are taken by their airline to Iran during a forced landing. The series shows the couple’s fear at landing in an enemy country with no relations with Israel.

This scenario almost played out in reality last week as a female Israeli soldier on board a plane from Uzbekistan landed in Iran last week and spent nine hours on the ground before safely departing, according to a GSS report released on Wednesday.

The report stated that the 19-year-old Russian-speaking soldier, who serves in a non-sensitive position in the IDF’s Northern Command, had been on vacation visiting family in Uzbekistan.

The civilian flight from the Uzbek capital Tashkent to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates last Thursday was diverted due to the medical condition of one of the passengers. It landed at Shiraz International Airport.

The plane spent around nine hours in Iran before taking off again without incident, the IDF said. According to Israeli media reports, passengers disembarked and were sent to wait in the terminal. While on the ground, the soldier called her parents, who then notified her commanders. The details were eventually passed on to senior defense officials, who notified Prime Minister Yair Lapid as the Israeli cabinet was holding a meeting on signing a maritime border agreement with Lebanon.

The Mossad spy agency then sprung into action and made contact with the soldier, instructing her to conceal her Israeli identity and not speak Hebrew, according to the reports. The soldier used her Russian passport when entering Iran but despite it being issued in Israel, she did not arouse any suspicion.

After around nine hours of waiting at the airport with the other passengers, the soldier boarded the flight again and flew to the UAE, before catching another flight back to Israel.

There have been several cases in the past where Israelis traveling over Asia have been diverted to Iran due to emergencies, though all were civilians. In all cases, the passengers departed without incident. International aviation agreements forbid a country from arresting or detaining a person in such a situation.