Pentagon Denies Us Jet Forced to Land in Iran

The Pentagon today denied a report that a US plane had been forced to land in Iranian territory.

Iran's Fars news agency claimed that five US officials were questioned and released by the Iranian authorities after the plane they were flying in mistakenly violated Iran's territory.

But a Pentagon spokesman said: "All aircraft in the region are accounted for and we have no reports of any aircraft landing in Iran."

The claim came after Reuters quoted Fars saying that the officials had been interrogated at an Iranian airport.

"After it became clear that they unintentionally entered Iran's air space and their destination was Afghanistan, they were allowed to leave Iran," Fars said.

In an initial report, Fars described the aircraft as a warplane. But later it said it was a Falcon, giving no further details.

It said Iranian fighter aircraft guided the plane to an Iranian airport where the passengers were questioned and released.

Iranian state television then said that the plane was Hungarian, and that no US officials were on board. Neither report says when the incident happened.

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Hasan Qashqavi, said he had no information about the case.