Iran denies report U.S. plane forced to land

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official denied on Tuesday a local news agency report that a U.S. military plane had violated the country's airspace and was forced to land, saying both the aircraft and the people on board were Hungarian.

The Pentagon also denied the report by Iran's semi-official Fars News agency, which came at a time of tension over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, and said all American planes were accounted for.

The oil market spiked briefly after the Fars report.

"The Fars report was not accurate. It was an Hungarian aid plane. No American was on board. The incident happened on September 30," the Iranian official, who declined to be named, said.

Iran's Arabic-language al-Alam channel, citing a military source, said the Hungarian plane was carrying aid to Afghanistan and that it had been allowed to leave Iran after the incident.

There has been persistent speculation about a possible U.S. or Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which U.S. and Israeli officials say form part of a covert weapons programme. Iran denies the charge.

Hostile rhetoric and close encounters in the Gulf have fuelled tension. In April, the U.S. navy said a cargo ship hired by the U.S. military fired warning shots at approaching boats in the Gulf. Iran denied that any confrontation had occurred.

Fars gave no source for its report, which said the plane left Iran after it was established it entered Iran unintentionally.