From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 5, 2026
Vance: I haven’t seen anything conclusive tying flydubai attack to Iran
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US Vice President JD Vance says he hasn’t seen anything conclusive tying last week’s attempt by a flydubai copilot to hijack and crash a plane full of Israelis.
“In terms of involvement with Iran. That’s something I defer to (CIA Chief) John Ratcliffe and some of the intelligence folks on,” Vance tells reporters before leaving on a flight to Alaska.
“I don’t want to get ahead of any announcements there,” he continues. “It’s certainly something we’re looking at, but I wouldn’t say I’ve seen anything conclusive just yet.”
Asked about whether he is concerned about foreign pilots flying in the US, Vance responds, “Anytime you have any person coming from outside the United States, you’ve got to be extra careful that that person is actually a good human being and is going to contribute to American society.
“That’s the story of the 9/11 terrorist attack — We brought a lot of people into the United States of America who shouldn’t have been here and certainly shouldn’t have been flying planes,” he claims.
“The interesting thing about that (flydubai) story is we knew that guy was a problem — meaning not United States intelligence — but if you look historically, that person should not have been flying an airline,” Vance continues.
“So we’re certainly looking at our procedures within the United States to make sure that people who are obviously flight risks are not getting behind the wheel of an airplane,” he adds.
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