The Middle East in the US UFO files: one in five, and almost all redacted

Since May, the US Department of War has put seven batches of UFO records on war.gov: 479 documents, videos and images in all. We went through them one by one and counted how many come from the Middle East. The answer is 101, or about one in five.

Seventy-seven of them name a place in the region: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Another 24 are videos whose only location is "CENTCOM", US Central Command, the Pentagon's command for the region. Outside the United States itself, no other region comes close: Europe and the Mediterranean have fewer than 30 files, the East Asian seas 21, space 20.

The region is also the most heavily redacted. War.gov's own flag marks 93 of the 101 files (92%) as redacted. In the rest of the archive it is 187 of 378, about half. The gap holds against a fairer comparison too: of the Department of War's other files, which are also mostly military reports, 64% are redacted.

What is in them

Nearly every file from the region is a mission report or a sensor video from a US aircraft that was busy with something else: the campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, or watching Iranian navy and Revolutionary Guard boats in the Gulf. The UFO is usually a line or two in a report on 20 hours of flying.

The Gulf, 2020. Through the summer and autumn of 2020, US aircraft flew near-24-hour missions over the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman to "characterize" Iranian navy and IRGC navy vessels. Iranian air defence hailed them on the emergency frequency and they gave the standard reply. In between, the crews logged things they could not identify: a "formation of unknown flying objects" along the coast (D061), two objects five minutes apart (D064) and, on one patrol, two lost data links from interference of an unknown type (D062).

Off the UAE, October 2023. Iranian air defence radioed the American aircraft: "Maintain safe distance from border." Less than an hour later the crew logged two objects, one estimated at about 320 mph and the other at 440 mph (D023).

Gulf of Oman, September 2021. The most detailed file from the region. A special-operations AC-130 gunship on a night live-fire exercise saw about 25 instances of "cold orbs", roughly four feet across and up to 20 feet above the water. The crew put their speed at 250 to 1,300 mph, said they were "maneuvering aggressively", and thought they seemed to react to the guns. The aircraft's video recorder failed; what survives is six clips someone filmed on a phone pointed at the sensor screen (D101). Those six clips are among the few files from the region released without redactions.

Syria, February 2023. Two F-15Es flying out of Jordan reported radar jamming over Shaddadi, three possible UAP, two of them "white objects" that stood out on infrared, and later a possible balloon (D019).

Saudi Arabia, 1957. The oldest file from the region: a B-52 crew had an unidentified return on the gunnery scope for five to seven minutes (D155).

Closest to Israel

Of the files that can be placed, the one nearest Israel is a mission report from May 2022 (D014). A US aircraft, its type blacked out, flew from Sigonella in Sicily on a 20-and-a-half-hour mission over the sea off Lebanon and Syria. Its target list included Syrian navy operating areas, Tartus, Latakia, army barracks in Beirut and, five times, an area called "OPIR ISRAEL-LEBANON-SYRIA REGION". The mission was also looking for Russian navy routes, and on the way it saw a Russian cruiser and frigate.

During the night up to three aircraft reacted to it; one, probably a Russian Su-30, came within about five nautical miles. At 01:17 GMT the crew logged "one possible small UAP" flying north to northeast, which the screener could not identify. By the grid reference in the report, it was first seen in the Latakia area, roughly 220 to 320 km (140 to 200 miles) north of Israel's border.

War.gov filed the record under "Iraq". And the video it attached (PR021) shows, in war.gov's own words, what the report called a "probable SU-27/35": a Russian fighter. The report describes such a jet landing near "AL ASSAD" airfield, and the same mission's target list includes Bassel al-Assad airport near Latakia, which in 2022 housed Russia's Hmeimim air base.

The next closest file is from November 2016 (D055). A P-8A maritime patrol aircraft shadowing the Russian carrier group about 55 nautical miles northwest of Latakia saw a "possible missile" skimming the sea at about 500 knots between a Russian support ship and an unidentified vessel. The two files closest to Israel, in other words, come from missions watching the Russian military off Syria.

Israel is not in the files

Israel is not given as the place of any of the 479 files: not in war.gov's location field, not in a title, not in an official description. We also searched the text of the 184 files that have searchable text (the rest are videos, images and scans). "Israel" appears in two: in D014, as part of the area name in the target list, and in a 2008 AAWSAP contract (D111), in a standard procurement clause on trade agreements. Neither is a sighting.

Israel moved into CENTCOM's area of responsibility in September 2021. At least 50 of the region's files are dated after that, and none is located in Israel. That does not mean nothing was seen there: the archive is what the US military reported and chose to release, and sightings in Israel would not necessarily reach it.

The land does come up once, in a much older file. In a 1952 talk (D154), Edward Ruppelt, then head of the US Air Force's UFO investigation, said he heard "through the grapevine" that airline pilots "see an awful lot of odd things that they don't report, especially over in the Near East, Iran, and the Middle East, I should say, Iran, Palestine, Egypt". Palestine, four years after Israel was founded. He added at once: "That's just a rumor."

What the redactions hide

Redaction is not an alien secret. In the 27 reports from the region whose text can be read, what is blacked out is mostly the aircraft type, tail number, call sign, bases, altitudes and crew names. Twenty-two cite section 1.4(a) of the US classification order, "military plans, weapons systems, or operations"; 17 cite 1.4(g), the capabilities and vulnerabilities of systems; 7 cite 1.4(c), intelligence sources and methods; and 22 cite the privacy exemption of the Freedom of Information Act. In the videos, the redactions are black boxes over the flight data on the screen: position, time, altitude and speed.

What is being kept back, in short, is mostly how, from where and with what the US flies over the Middle East, in a theatre where it still operates. That explains much of the gap.

What the numbers do not show

• That the region has more UFOs. The archive shows where the US keeps sensors in the air around the clock, and what Central Command chose to release. Forty-seven of the 77 files with a named place came in the very first batch, on 8 May.
• That a file is an event. One report often comes with several videos or images. By our count the 101 files describe about 70 separate events at most. Seven of the CENTCOM-only videos carry the date of a report from the Gulf, Iran or the Arabian Sea, but the files do not link them, so we did not either.
• That "unresolved" means "unexplained". Some files offer an explanation themselves: a balloon (D007), birds and a possible missile (D010), a reflection on the water (PR029), a Russian fighter (PR021).
• That war.gov's titles are right. A report titled "Arabian Gulf" (D004) is, by its own coordinates, in the Ionian Sea off Greece, so we did not count it. A "Japan" report (D042) is in the Gulf, and war.gov lists it twice. D028's file name says East China Sea; the report is in Iraq. And the official summary of D109 was copied from another report.

How we counted

• Data: the 479 records of war.gov/ufo releases 1 to 7, 8 May to 23 October 2026, as published in our open data, checked against the live site on 30 October.
• "Middle East": a file counts if war.gov's location field names a place in the region, or says "Middle East". If the field is empty, we used the title. For videos labelled only "CENTCOM", we used the title their uploader gave them when it names a place, which added six (Iran, Syria, the Persian Gulf). Where a file's own text contradicts the field, the text wins; that happened once, with D004.
• CENTCOM with no place: 24 videos. They are in the 101 and listed separately below.
• Left out: seven files from Afghanistan and Central Asia, which are also in CENTCOM's area, including two CENTCOM videos whose titles name Afghanistan. Reports from Greece, the Aegean and the far eastern Mediterranean are not counted either.
• "Redacted": war.gov's own flag on each record. We did not judge it ourselves.

The full table, with every field, is available as a CSV from [email protected].

All 101 files

Iraq (12)

• PR020 · May 2022 · redacted · Still image for report D012, with a red circle the original reporter drew around an elongated spot.
• PR021 · May 2022 · redacted · Ten-second clip for report D014; war.gov says the report called it a 'probable SU-27/35', a Russian fighter.
• D010 · 6 May 2022 · redacted · Five UAP crossed a surveillance camera's screen; the report calls one a possible missile and four possible birds.
• D012 · 20 May 2022 · redacted · On an 19-hour surveillance sortie, the crew saw one UAP flying north to northeast and could not identify it.
• PR023 · Dec 2022 · redacted · Ten-second infrared clip for D018: a patch crosses the frame diagonally and leaves at the top right.
• D018 · 1 Dec 2022 · redacted · Over Baghdad, the crew logged one 'possible UAP/UAV' flying west to east and did not follow it.
• D106 · 2022 · redacted · Objects of 1–2 metres 'flying sporadically within the target area' at 80–180 mph; altitude unknown.
• D109 · 2022 · redacted · UAP 'flying sporadically' in the target area at 80–180 mph, 1–2 m across; a dust storm hampered collection. (war.gov's summary repeats D108's.)
• PR130 · 2022 · redacted · Infrared still for D106: two spots, one elongated with a trail that war.gov says may be an image-processing artefact.
• PR131 · 2022 · redacted · A second infrared still for D106, with the same elongated spot and trail.
• D020 · 31 Mar 2023 · redacted · Two F-16s from Prince Sultan Air Base saw 'several bright objects maneuvering quickly' and tracked them for about 20 seconds.
• D028 · 20 Sep 2024 · redacted · During a weapons calibration over Ayn al-Asad, a hot flare streaked through the sensors as a Griffin missile was fired.

Syria and its coast (11)

• D055 · 18 Nov 2016 · redacted · A P-8A watching the Russian carrier group off Latakia saw a 'possible missile' sea-skimming at ~500 knots between a Russian support ship and an unidentified vessel.
• PR051 · 2021 · redacted · Five-minute clip the uploader enhanced and slowed down; the patch leaves the frame fast when tracking stops.
• D014 · 29–30 May 2022 · redacted · Aircraft from Sigonella over the sea off Lebanon and Syria; a possible Su-30 came within ~5 NM; one small UAP first seen in the Latakia area.
• PR022 · Jul 2022 · redacted · Fourteen-second infrared and daylight clip for D016: an object crosses the top right of the frame.
• D016 · 31 Jul 2022 · redacted · Armed reconnaissance from Jordan over eastern Syria; one UAP moved north to south in under a minute.
• D019 · 21 Feb 2023 · redacted · Two F-15Es from Jordan near Shaddadi: radar jamming, three possible UAP ('white objects', strong on infrared), later a possible balloon.
• D074 · 9 Nov 2023 · redacted · On the way back to base, a UAP 'shaped as a bouncy ball' held ~424 knots for at least seven minutes and passed the aircraft.
• PR031 · Oct 2024 · redacted · Five-second clip for D032: a multicoloured blur moves along the top edge of the frame.
• PR032 · Oct 2024 · redacted · Six-second clip for D032: a white-and-red half-oval of light at the top of the frame.
• PR033 · Oct 2024 · redacted · Five-second clip for D032: two semi-transparent orange shapes appear over a compound for under two seconds each.
• D032 · 20 Oct 2024 · redacted · For 45 minutes, a 'misshapen and uneven ball of white light' and glare flashes crossed the camera; crew ruled out a laser.

Iran (2)

• D064 · 2 Nov 2020 · redacted · Gulf patrol to 'characterize' Iranian navy and IRGC navy boats, hailed by Iranian air defence; two UAP on video five minutes apart.
• PR050 · 26 Aug 2022 · redacted · Twenty-second infrared clip: four patches cross the frame together, then a fifth appears.

Saudi Arabia (1)

• D155 · 18 Jan 1957 · not redacted · A B-52 crew had an unidentified return on the gunnery scope for five to seven minutes, smaller than another B-52's.

United Arab Emirates (2)

• PR026 · Oct 2023 · redacted · Forty-three-second infrared clip for D023: a patch drifts as the sensor pans, then is lost.
• PR027 · Oct 2023 · redacted · Five-minute infrared clip for D023: the sensor finds a patch, zooms in, then repeatedly loses and reacquires it.

The Persian (Arabian) Gulf (19)

• PR098 · undated (uploaded Oct 2019) · redacted · Seventeen-minute clip; zoomed in, one patch splits into several, then fades in and out.
• PR093 · 5 May 2020 · redacted · Thirty-second clip titled 'Dual UAP'; several patches enter and leave the frame.
• PR095 · 5 May 2020 · redacted · A second, different 'Dual UAP' clip from the same day; zoomed in, the patch is several patches.
• D038 · 14 May 2020 · redacted · A 'solid white object' made erratic movements above the water; the radar held an intermittent track.
• D065 · 16 Jul 2020 · redacted · Three separate UAP on video during one patrol; the released text gives times, not descriptions.
• D060 · 8 Aug 2020 · redacted · On a 21-hour Gulf patrol, one UAP 'transiting'; dense cloud kept breaking up the video.
• PR091 · 21 Aug 2020 · redacted · Five-minute clip; a patch crosses the frame after three minutes and fades into the grain.
• D061 · 27 Aug 2020 · redacted · A 'formation of unknown flying objects' moved along the coast for about two minutes before cloud hid it.
• D042 · 31 Aug 2020 · redacted · One object flew through the screen, a second of the same shape overtook it, and at one point three moved 'amongst each other'.
• D042 (2nd copy) · 31 Aug 2020 · redacted · The same form as the 'Japan' D042 file, listed a second time by war.gov.
• D003 · 2020 · redacted · Four UAP seen within 30 seconds beneath a cloud layer, which kept the crew from following them.
• D007 · 2020 · redacted · A UAP that 'looks like a balloon' drifting with the wind at 31,000 ft, identified visually on the targeting camera.
• PR037 · 2020 · redacted · Nine-second infrared clip; a patch enters at the bottom left and leaves at the top left within two seconds.
• PR039 · 2020 · redacted · Five-second infrared clip; a faint patch crosses a corner of the frame and leaves at the bottom.
• PR040 · 2020 · redacted · One-minute clip; the original reporter paused it and circled a 'U/I small thermal signature'.
• PR041 · 2020 · redacted · Ninety-second infrared clip; a patch enters from the left and the sensor pans to keep it centred.
• PR042 · 2020 · redacted · Five-minute infrared clip; a patch fades, returns and shifts as the sensor changes modes.
• PR044 · 2020 · redacted · Five-minute infrared clip; the sensor tracks a patch for about three minutes, then lets it go.
• D023 · 24 Oct 2023 (war.gov: 31 Oct) · redacted · Iranian air defence radioed 'maintain safe distance from border'; then two UAP, ~320 and ~440 mph, the first cold on thermal.

Strait of Hormuz (2)

• D062 · 16 Sep 2020 · redacted · A 21-hour patrol with three Iranian air-defence calls and two lost-link interference events; one UAP on video.
• D063 · 1 Oct 2020 · redacted · One UAP logged during a Gulf patrol; the line that describes it is not in the released text.

Gulf of Oman (9)

• D101 · 8 Sep 2021 · redacted · AC-130 gunship, night live fire: about 25 'cold orbs', ~4 ft wide, 0–20 ft above the water, seeming to react to the guns.
• PR117 · 8 Sep 2021 · not redacted · Phone video of the AC-130's sensor screen (16 s); a patch stays near the centre. Not redacted.
• PR118 · 8 Sep 2021 · not redacted · Phone video of the sensor screen (30 s); the patch briefly drops out of the bottom of the frame. Not redacted.
• PR119 · 8 Sep 2021 · not redacted · Phone video of the sensor screen (2 s); a patch at the centre. Not redacted.
• PR120 · 8 Sep 2021 · not redacted · Phone video of the sensor screen (13 s); the patch fades when the sensor changes modes. Not redacted.
• PR121 · 8 Sep 2021 · not redacted · Phone video of the sensor screen (34 s); a larger and a smaller patch leave and re-enter the frame. Not redacted.
• PR122 · 8 Sep 2021 · not redacted · Phone video of the sensor screen (26 s), largely the same moment as PR121. Not redacted.
• PR029 · Jun 2024 · redacted · Twenty-one-second infrared clip of the teardrop with a bar below it; the observer thought it might be a reflection in the water.
• D027 · 7 Jun 2024 (title: Oct 2023) · redacted · A 'glowing hot spherical' object with a vertical bar below it flew straight just above the water.

Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden (4)

• D056 · 24 Aug 2020 · redacted · A Navy helicopter pilot saw three small air contacts with 'wings/airframe'; no radar, no IFF.
• D057 · 4 Sep 2020 · redacted · A 'round, cold object' tracked for eight minutes at 277 mph, making 'a few abrupt directional changes'.
• D044 · 15 Oct 2020 · redacted · A 'round, cold object' on infrared, moving at about 20 mph with 'abrupt directional changes'.
• D075 · 14 Jul 2024 · redacted · A UAP in a straight line at a steady altitude, 'faster than flying speed', followed until it was too far.

"Middle East", no country given (15)

• PR038 · 2013 · redacted · Two-minute infrared clip of a shape like an eight-pointed star, moving with a visible trail.
• PR036 · May 2020 · redacted · Two-minute infrared clip for D038: the sensor zooms in on a white blob but never locks on.
• PR019 · May 2022 · redacted · Five-second infrared clip for report D010: a patch moves across the bottom of the frame (the 'possible missile').
• PR140 · 2022 · redacted · Clip for D109: the sensor switches between infrared and daylight modes while tracking a patch.
• PR141 · 2022 · redacted · Second clip for D109, side-by-side infrared and daylight views; the patch leaves and re-enters the frame.
• PR024 · 2023 · not redacted · Eighteen-second infrared clip: two bright points cross the frame while the sensor holds on a dark patch. Not redacted.
• PR030 · 2023 · redacted · Ten-second infrared clip: two patches cross the frame in opposite directions.
• PR136 · 2023 · redacted · Thirty-second infrared clip; a reticle briefly surrounds the patch, then part of the aircraft blocks the view.
• PR149 · 2023 · redacted · Fifty-one-second infrared clip; the sensor turns to follow a patch across the frame.
• D108 · 29 Jul 2025 · redacted · 'Six small spherical objects grouped together', 'seemingly agile', estimated at 480 mph.
• D107 · 2025 · redacted · 'Look[ing] like a white round orbit… moving as fast as 500 miles per hour.'
• PR133 · 2025 (war.gov text: 2024) · redacted · Five-minute infrared clip for D107; the sensor follows a bright point as it slips out of frame and the auto-track fails to lock.
• PR134 · 2025 · redacted · Ninety-nine-second clip; the sensor pans to keep a patch centred, changing modes and zoom.
• PR135 · 2025 · redacted · One-minute infrared clip for D108; several patches cross the frame and the sensor follows them.
• PR142 · 2025 · redacted · Fourteen-second infrared clip; a patch crosses the frame from left to right.

Labelled only "CENTCOM", no place given (24)

• PR096 · 3 Jul 2018 · redacted · Two patches enter the frame; zoomed in, one looks like three in a line, the gap to one of them growing.
• PR099 · Sep 2019 · redacted · Several patches enter and leave as the sensor follows them (title says 25 Sep 2019, war.gov text 23 Sep).
• PR097 · 25 Sep 2019 · redacted · Five-minute clip; at higher zoom the patch looks like several grouped together.
• PR094 · 13 Feb 2020 · redacted · Daylight and infrared clip; the patch disappears in one mode and reappears in the other.
• PR059 · 1 Jun 2020 · redacted · Five-minute clip; the sensor zooms and pans to keep a patch in view. 'NAG' is not explained in the record.
• PR092 · 8 Aug 2020 · redacted · Five-minute clip; the sensor holds a patch at the top of the frame through zoom changes. Same date as Gulf report D060.
• PR090 · 24 Aug 2020 · redacted · The sensor zooms in on a patch, which leaves and re-enters the frame. Same date as Arabian Sea report D056.
• PR088 · 31 Aug 2020 · redacted · Several patches enter and leave while the sensor stays on one. Same date as Gulf report D042.
• PR089 · 31 Aug 2020 · redacted · 'Part 2' of the same day: patches appear, fade and return.
• PR087 · 5 Sep 2020 · redacted · Five-minute clip; a patch crosses the screen bottom to top three times, minutes apart.
• PR085 · 16 Sep 2020 · redacted · The camera zooms in and follows a patch for about three minutes. Same date as Hormuz report D062.
• PR084 · 17 Sep 2020 · redacted · Four-minute video in which a patch crosses the frame once, in about two seconds.
• PR083 · 7 Oct 2020 · redacted · Four-and-a-half-minute clip; the sensor cycles zoom and modes on a faint patch until it is lost.
• PR080 · 20 Oct 2020 · redacted · Five-minute clip; patches dart across the frame eight times and the sensor keeps trying to track them.
• PR079 · 29 Oct 2020 · redacted · Uploader title 'observes 3 fast moving UAP's'; two patches share the frame for about 15 seconds.
• PR077 · 2 Nov 2020 · redacted · 'Observes and tracks UAP 1 of 2'; a low patch brightens, then a second one crosses. Same date as Iran report D064.
• PR078 · 2 Nov 2020 · redacted · '2 of 2'; war.gov says it is distinct from PR077 but shows highly similar subject matter.
• PR076 · 3 Jan 2021 · redacted · Five-minute clip; after almost two blank minutes a patch appears and the sensor follows it for a minute.
• PR060 · 12 Apr 2021 · redacted · Uploader title 'Spherical UAP… obj 2'; a patch crosses, leaves and re-enters the frame.
• PR061 · 12 Apr 2021 · redacted · Same day, 'vid 0'; a patch enters after three minutes and fades when the sensor changes modes.
• PR062 · 12 Apr 2021 · redacted · Same day, 'vid 1'; nearly five minutes of the sensor keeping a patch centred.
• PR063 · 12 Apr 2021 · redacted · Same day, 'vid 2'; 50 seconds on the patch, then the sensor turns away.
• PR074 · 13 Jun 2022 · redacted · Five-minute clip; patches cross the frame, and near the end four small ones appear together.
• PR053 · 15 Oct 2022 · redacted · Uploader title 'Cigar Shaped or Fast Spherical UAP'; a patch crosses the frame, replayed twice in slow motion.