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U.S. Intelligence: Iran Air Defense Units Fired on Own Aircraft
(New York Times) Michael R. Gordon - The Iranian military was so apprehensive about the threat of an Israeli airstrike on its nuclear installations in 2007 and 2008 that it mistakenly fired on civilian airliners and, in one instance, on one of its own military aircraft, according to classified American intelligence reports. "Iranian air defense units have taken inappropriate actions dozens of times, including firing antiaircraft artillery and scrambling aircraft against unidentified or misidentified targets," noted a classified Pentagon intelligence report. In addition, worried about an Israeli strike, the commander of the Iranian Air Force ordered fighter units to "conduct daily air-to-ground attack training (GAT) at firing ranges resembling the Israeli city of Haifa and the Israeli nuclear facility at Dimona," according to a classified 2008 report by the Defense Intelligence Agency.