US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with a strong military response on Thursday if Tehran is found to have been involved in the alleged attempt by a flydubai co-pilot to crash a passenger jet bound for Israel.
Asked at the White House whether Iran was connected to the incident, Trump said investigators were still examining the possibility.
“I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes, but we’re working on it right now,” Trump told reporters.
Asked whether the United States would retaliate if Iranian involvement was established, Trump replied: “They’ll be hit very hard.”
No evidence publicly released so far has established an Iranian role in the incident, and authorities in the United Arab Emirates are still investigating the co-pilot’s motive and whether the attack involved terrorism, advance planning or outside direction.
The warning came a day after flydubai Flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was forced to make an emergency landing in the Saudi city of Tabuk after what authorities described as a violent confrontation inside the cockpit.
Saudi Arabia said its preliminary investigation found that the aircraft’s captain had been assaulted by the co-pilot, leaving both men injured. The pair were later transferred to the UAE accompanied by an Emirati security team.
Israeli officials have said the co-pilot, identified as an Omani national, attacked Indian captain Smit Machchhar and attempted to bring down the aircraft before passengers and crew intervened.
Flight-tracking data showed the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plunging more than 17,000 feet during the emergency, while the aircraft transmitted both general emergency and unlawful-interference transponder codes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the suspect had undergone what he described as “radical Islamist indoctrination” and appeared to have been suicidal.
Netanyahu said the co-pilot shouted for crew members to kill him during the confrontation, while saying Israel would investigate how an Omani national had been cleared to work aboard flights serving Israel. His assertions about the suspect’s radicalisation have not yet been independently substantiated by Emirati investigators.
The UAE’s attorney general has ordered an investigation into the circumstances and motive behind the attack, including whether it was connected to terrorist activity or involved prior planning or instructions from others.
Flydubai has said the cause of the incident remains under investigation and suspended flights to and from Israel while authorities establish the facts.
Machchhar, who was wounded in the attack, was transferred to Abu Dhabi for further treatment and was reported to be recovering.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the captain’s actions, saying his courage had helped save the lives of those aboard the aircraft.
Passengers also described helping overpower the suspected attacker before another flydubai crew member travelling on the aircraft was able to land safely in Saudi Arabia.
The flight was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members, according to Saudi authorities. All passengers later continued to Israel aboard a replacement aircraft.
The incident comes amid renewed US military deployments in the Middle East as tensions with Iran remain high.
Axios reported on Friday that the United States had recently deployed two additional Patriot missile batteries, one to Saudi Arabia and another to Qatar, to protect key oil and gas installations against possible Iranian retaliation if Washington resumes major combat operations against Tehran.
US officials have not publicly presented evidence linking Tehran to the flydubai incident, leaving Iran’s possible involvement among the questions investigators have yet to resolve.
