An Iranian man attempted to hijack a Syria-bound flight carrying several Iranian Members of Parliament, according to Iran's state radio. Security guards detained the man and the flight continued as planned.
State media referred to the would-be hijacker as a “counter-revolutionary.”
The man accused of a hijacking attempt was not armed. He attempted to divert the plane by claiming that he had a bomb on board. Air marshals confronted the man and transferred him to police custody in the Damascus airport.
Iran Air initially said that the perpetrator was “mentally unstable.” The Revolutionary Guards later claimed that the man was affiliated with an unnamed opposition group.
The Iranian MPs were on their way to a conference in Damascus. Ties between Iran and Syria have remained tight despite recent American outreach efforts to Syria. The Obama administration has resumed diplomatic ties with Syria and suspended embargoes that were imposed on Syria for its support of terrorism.