A mysterious, silent craft illuminated with multi-colored lights was captured on video hovering over Tehran, Iran, on Sunday, reigniting discussions about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). The sighting, shared by a witness on X, describes a large, crescent-shaped object near the clouds, moving without sound.
The witness, identified as Ali Sedaghati, stated the craft was approximately the size of a large plane and expressed certainty that it was "not human-made." The video, lasting just over 20 seconds, shows the object before it disappeared when the witness attempted to record again minutes later. The footage has garnered significant attention online, with millions of views.
Interpretations of the sighting vary, with some suggesting advanced drones or military surveillance equipment, while others speculate about extraterrestrial origins. The U.S. government has consistently stated that there is no evidence to support the existence of extraterrestrial life visiting Earth.
This recent event occurred almost 50 years to the day after a similar, highly publicized UFO incident over Tehran. On September 19, 1976, multiple civilians reported a large, diamond-shaped craft flying over the city. The Imperial Iranian Air Force, then an ally of the U.S., scrambled two F-4 Phantom fighter jets to investigate.
One of the pilots, Major Parviz Jafari, reported that the object appeared to deploy glowing orbs that maneuvered around his jet at supersonic speeds, disabling his aircraft's weapons systems. Jafari described the UFO as being as large as a 747 commercial jet and capable of instantaneous movement across vast distances. A third object was reportedly seen following his jet before disappearing near Mehrabad International Airport, though no wreckage was ever recovered.
The Pentagon confirmed at the time that it investigated the 1976 sighting. A declassified report from the Pentagon revealed that the U.S. military investigated the 1976 UFO sighting of Iran.
The recent sighting follows the Pentagon's release of its sixth batch of UAP files, which included videos of unidentified craft recorded by U.S. drone aircraft over the Middle East between 2022 and 2025. These files featured incidents such as clusters of orbs flying in formation and individual objects traveling at high speeds before vanishing from view.