October 3, 2026
US President Donald Trump threatened a harsh response to Iran if investigations confirmed its involvement in the attempted hijacking of Flydubai flight FZ1073, expanding his warnings to include the regional organizations it supports, most notably Hezbollah.
In press statements in response to a question about the possibility of Tehran’s involvement in the incident, Trump said: “I say that the answer, based on what I hear, is yes, but we are working on it and verifying it now,” stressing that the issue is still under official investigation.
Regarding the nature of the possible American response if Iranian involvement is proven, Trump indicated that Tehran will receive a “very harsh blow,” recalling the strikes it was subjected to during the recent confrontation, which targeted its leadership and strategic assets. He added: “Simply ask them. They know what really happened.”
The American warning was not limited to Tehran, as it extended to include its arms in the region by saying: “The fate of the proxies is the same as the fate of Iran. Wherever Iran goes, its arms will also go,” thus linking the fate of allied organizations to the fate of the Iranian regime itself.
These positions reflect a noticeable escalation in Trump’s rhetoric compared to his previous statements in which he described the attacker as “perhaps a terrorist or perhaps deranged.” These developments coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that Israel is conducting investigations to verify the existence of a possible Iranian connection, likely to reach final conclusions “within days,” and his initial data indicate that the Omani co-pilot went through a path of severe Islamist extremism.
In a related context, Trump praised the courage of the plane’s passengers and crew members who prevented a certain disaster, after the plane, which was carrying 174 passengers, most of them Israelis, lost about 14,000 feet of altitude in less than half a minute. He singled out the Indian pilot, Smit Machhar, who was able to open the cockpit door despite being stabbed and seriously injured, and the Israeli passenger, Yaniv Hayun, who rushed with other passengers and pushed the attacker away from the controls, allowing the plane to stabilize and make a turbulent landing at Tabuk Airport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
These developments follow estimates quoted from Saudi and American officials suggesting that the initial results indicate a planned terrorist act and not an accidental incident or a personal dispute. This is also the opinion of Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, who described the incident as “an attempted jihadist terrorist attack.” Between the officials’ suggestions and their pledge to respond, the truth about the Iranian role in the incident remains dependent on the conclusions of the ongoing investigations.
