In an interview with Press TV, Captain Behzad Sedaqatnia said the civilian aircraft had obtained the permission from Oman and Yemen to cross into Yemen’s airspace.
The pilot added that Saudi Arabia told the Iranian plane that it did not have the permission to land without providing the crew with any reasons.
"Certainly, I will fly to Yemen if I find another opportunity. Of course my other colleagues also rival with each other over such an opportunity," Captain Behzad Sedaqatnia told FNA on Wednesday.
Bombing the Sana'a runway and destroying the control tower was the only chance left for the Saudi pilots to prevent his landing in the Yemeni capital and still spare their country Iran's wrath and rapid retaliatory action, at least in the short run.
Captain Sedaqatnia is the only known cargo plane pilot that has won a direct confrontation with several F15 fighter jets as he stood up to several Saudi warplanes last night that were warning him to reroute the plane to a Saudi airport or wait for their missiles.
The captain stood his stance, and the Saudi pilots "looked him in the eye with much bewilderment wondering what to do with him next".
The Iranian pilot also noted that he rejected a later request to land at an airport belonging to Saudi Arabia and continued flying toward Sana’a, but was blocked as two rockets hit the runway.
On Wednesday, Iran condemned the Saudi move as “totally inhumane and spiteful”.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, said the Saudi measure was aimed at putting pressure on the defenseless people of Yemen.
The Saudi move came days after its fighter jets intercepted an Iranian airplane carrying humanitarian aid and medicine as well as the injured Yemenis, who had been treated in Iran, and prevented it from entering the Yemeni airspace. The plane was forced to turn back, although it had obtained the permission to take the Oman-Yemen route.
Saudi Arabia launched its aerial attacks on Yemen on March 26 – without a United Nations mandate –to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi, a close ally of the kingdom, who has fled to Riyadh with members of his government.
Bombing the Sana'a runway and destroying the control tower was the only chance left for the Saudi pilots to prevent iranian plane landing in the Yemeni capital.
Bombing the Sana'a runway and destroying the control tower was the only chance left for the Saudi pilots to prevent iranian plane landing in the Yemeni capital.
Bombing the Sana'a runway and destroying the control tower was the only chance left for the Saudi pilots to prevent iranian plane landing in the Yemeni capital.