JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - President Donald Trump has threatened to hit Iran 'very hard' if it is found to be behind a plot to hijack a FlyDubai flight in which a pilot stabbed his colleague in the cockpit earlier this week.
FlyDubai's flight FZ1073, carrying 174 passengers from Dubai, was flying to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when Captain Smit Machchhar was attacked by his Omani co-pilot.
The Indian commercial pilot who has flown Boeing 737 aircraft for more than a decade managed to open the door of the cockpit so that the flight's crew and passengers could overpower the attacker, while two reserve pilots, who were in the plane, took control and the aircraft made an emergency landing at Saudi Arabia's Tabuk Airport.
After the attack, the uncontrolled plane had plunged more than 17,000ft in less than 30 seconds, according to media reports.
The attacker is in the custody of the United Arab Emirates, where the authorities are questioning him.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged that the co-pilot 'underwent Islamist radical indoctrination'.
Reporters asked Trump at the White House Thursday if he had been briefed about a possible Iran connection to the FlyDubai incident. He replied: 'I would say the answer, based on what I'm hearing, is yes, but we're working on it right now.'
Replying to a question about possible American retaliation against Iran if the incident was found to be perpetrated with Tehran's support, Trump said, 'Oh, they'll be hit very hard, don't worry.'
Trump's threat coincided with an American military buildup in the Middle East.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and its strike group were reportedly sailing towards the region, where two other U.S. warships have already been anchored.
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