IRGC: 15 Plane Hijacking Attempts Defused in 34 Years

“We have had 15 cases of plane hijacking since 1984,” General Nassiri told reporters in Tehran on Saturday, adding that his forces have brought the situation under control in 11 cases and resolved 4 more incidents through talks with hijackers.

He also said no Iranian VIPs have been assassinated since 1980, a year after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and mentioned that the Iranian nuclear scientists and martyr Ali Sayyad Shirazi were assassinated because they were not protected by bodyguards.

In relevant remarks in 2015, an IRGC commander revealed that the flight guard forces (Air Marshals) of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps have defused several plots hatched by the terrorist ISIL group to hijack the Iranian planes.

Speaking to FNA on attempts to hijack the Iranian planes in recent years, Deputy Chief Liaison Officer of Flight Guards Corps Ya’qoub Baqeri spoke of the terrorist ISIL group’s failed plots in this regard.

“The ISIL and other Salafi groups sought to hit a blow to our country this way, but fortunately, they couldn’t put their plots into practice,” Baqeri said.

Also, in December 2013, Baqeri said that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had praised the IRGC forces for their strong and excellent measures in protecting Iranian flights against hijacking attacks.

“In 2005, the ICAO inspected the method used by the IRGC for security (of Iranian flights) and we received an excellent score,” Baqeri added.

He underlined that the IRGC forces had been so much successful in protecting the Iranian flights that many world states had voiced their willingness to be informed of the details of their work and receive trainings in this field.

“We have had meetings with the representatives of different world states and they had some requests to receive training, but this has not happened yet due to our security considerations,” Baqeri said.