Questions loom over Flydubai flight attack

Questions loomed on Thursday over the motives and background of a co-pilot who stabbed the captain of a passenger jet on its way to Israel, in what Israeli officials have said was an apparent attempt to crash the plane with more than 170 people on board.

Disaster was averted on Wednesday's Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv after the wounded captain managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers to subdue the attacker and a reserve crew that had been on board to land the plane in Saudi Arabia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker was being investigated in Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed at Tabuk airport, and that he believed he would be taken to the United Arab Emirates.

"We'll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

The United Arab Emirates said it has ordered the formation of an investigation team to look into the incident, according to the UAE's Emirates News Agency, or WAM.

Stressing that investigations are ongoing, UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi called for avoiding speculation or circulating unreliable information about the incident before the authorities finish their probe.

Flydubai issued a statement saying it was temporarily suspending flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel's preliminary information indicated that the co-pilot aimed to crash the plane, describing him as a terrorist. Netanyahu said on Thursday the co-pilot had undergone Islamist radicalization.

US President Donald Trump, after discussing the incident with Netanyahu, said, "It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack-job."

The incident heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israelis vote in the first election since the Hamas-led Oct 7, 2023, attacks, with Israel's security figuring prominently in the campaigning.

The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February, in a conflict that quickly spread to the Gulf and Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah.

In the latest developments on a proposal to cool down the region's conflicts, Iranian officials indicated on Wednesday they have received an official US response to Tehran's latest proposal to end the seven-month conflict, which Trump had publicly rejected just days earlier.

Conditions presented

Trump told reporters that the United States could blow Iran up even as Tehran confirmed it had received the proposal from Washington after presenting its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

"In today's cabinet meeting, (Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's) report on the trip to New York and the series of meetings and encounters held, including the presentation of Iran's proposed conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz through intermediaries in the United States, was presented," said Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani in a post on X on Wednesday.

"Despite the enemy's efforts to isolate Iran, the Iranian delegation has been at the center of attention and meetings, with numerous encounters held with European countries, Persian Gulf states, and other nations, and diplomatic initiatives to break new ground in foreign policy are being pursued with utmost seriousness," noted Mohajerani, adding that Araghchi also confirmed receiving a proposal from the US.

Meanwhile, sources told Reuters that Iran is preparing a broader and more forceful response if the US resumes large-scale military attacks, while continuing a diplomatic push that Iranian officials privately see as unlikely to succeed.

It has also been widely reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Araghchi and his delegation to the United Nations General Assembly to leave New York earlier than they had planned.

However, Iran's mission to the UN denied such reports in a post on X.

"The Iranian delegation left New York on Monday (Sept 28) evening, in accordance with the schedule that had also been communicated to the US Department of State in advance on Sept 17. Having achieved nothing, the State Department has resorted to propagating baseless and worthless news," the Iranian mission said.

Agencies contributed to this story.