Iran foils plane hijacking plot

Tehran: Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that a plot to hijack a passenger plane was successfully thwarted.

"A conspiracy to hijack a Fokker 100 aircraft belonging to Iran Air was neutralised thanks to the vigilance of the IRGC flight security unit," the IRGC public relations office said in a statement published on its official website on Friday.

Iran Air flight IA334 took off after delay at 10.22 p.m. on Thursday night from Ahvaz airport toward Mashhad.

It did an emergency landing in Isfahan airport where the perpetrator was arrested, the IRGC's statement said, noting no passengers were hurt in the accident.

The detainee intended to deviate the flight toward an unspecified country on the southern shore of the Gulf, according to the statement.