F4 goes down 4 miles from soon to be launched Bushehr facility.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS, JPOST.COM STAFFBushehr Plant 311(photo credit: Associated Press)
TEHRAN, Iran —An Iranian F4 fighter jet crashed in the country's south on Tuesday, near a nuclear power plant that is expected to be launched next month, a semi-official Iranian news agency reported.Local government official Gholam Reza Keshtkar said the Iranian airforce plane crashed about 4 miles (6 kilometers) north of the city of Bushehr.RELATED:NGO blasts increase in German-Iran tradeOdds of US strike on Iran could rise after Gates departureBushehr is 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of the capital, Tehran.Keshtkar said the pilot and co-pilot ejected from the plane before it crashed but were rushed to the hospital in the city. He didn't provide other details.The Bushehr nuclear power plant — Iran's first such facility — is expected to start fueling up this week.Last week, Russia announced that it will start loading uranium fuel into the nuclear reactor of the Bushehr nuclear power station on August 21, a spokesman for Russia's state atomic cooperation reportedly told Reuters.According to the report, the spokesperson was quoted as saying that the addition of fuel will be crucial to initiating the country's first nuclear reactor, although it will not become operational.The United States has called for Russia to delay the startup until Iran proves that it's not developing nuclear weapons. Russian officials said that the latest UN sanctions against Iran won't affect the Bushehr project.
