TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei on Wednesday said the U.S. and Israel are resorting to “false flag” operations to justify military aggression against Iran.

“False flag is an old craft: first manufacture the incident, then assign the blame, and finally harvest the consequences,” Baghaei wrote on X, publishing a short video on seven decades of alleged U.S. and Israeli false flag operations.

He said that in a world where the American and international public is weary of an “unlawful war of aggression against Iran,” and where the aggressors have no honest way to justify a war of choice, “even a raft made of lies can look like salvation to those who are drowning”.

His remarks come in the wake of the September 30 incident aboard flydubai flight FZ1073, which was diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, after an alleged altercation in the cockpit.

The co-pilot, identified as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, allegedly attacked the captain with a crash ax. Israeli Channel 12 reported that during interrogation, the co-pilot said he had planned to steer the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport’s terminal.

Press TV, citing an unnamed “well-informed regional source,” reported that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned the hijacking as a “false flag” operation to draw U.S. President Donald Trump into a new war with Iran, and that the plan was finalized during a secret Netanyahu visit to the UAE three days before the flight. 

Baghaei had earlier dismissed attempts to link Tehran to the incident as a “worn-out tactic,” saying Iran was being accused “solely on the basis of fabricated evidence”.

Netanyahu’s office confirmed in May that he had made a secret visit to the UAE during the war with Iran, calling it a “historic breakthrough” in relations.