‘Black Manta’ spotted over Iran? Strange object with bright lights revives 50-year-old UFO mystery amid war

Strange lights seen over Tehran and Zahedan have triggered theories ranging from drones to a secret US aircraft. The sightings have brought fresh attention to the mysterious and unverified TR-3B ‘Black Manta’ legend.

As fighting between the US and Iran intensifies, mysterious lights spotted in the skies over Tehran and elsewhere in Iran have triggered speculation about what exactly was flying overhead.

A video recorded on September 20 showed an unidentified object with multiple coloured lights apparently hovering or moving slowly over Tehran. Reports placed the sighting near the Azadegan Expressway. Reuters’ video service said the object’s size, altitude, distance and speed could not be independently established, while Iranian authorities had not identified it.

A second set of visuals circulated on September 21, reportedly showing unusual lights moving across the sky over Zahedan in southeastern Iran. The footage has generated speculation online about drones, aircraft and other possible explanations, although none has been independently confirmed.

The timing of the Tehran sighting has added to the attention surrounding it. The footage appeared almost exactly 50 years after the famous 1976 Tehran UFO incident, one of the most widely documented unidentified aerial sightings associated with Iran.

Drone, aircraft or something else?

The latest videos offer few details that could conclusively establish the nature of the object.

The footage shows bright, multi-coloured lights against the night sky, but there is no reliable reference point from which to determine its actual size or altitude. There is also no official confirmation identifying the object or establishing that it was a military aircraft.

Some social media users suggested that the lights could belong to a drone or a group of drones. Others proposed possibilities ranging from an illuminated kite to another conventional aircraft. The lack of independent technical or radar data means these explanations remain unverified.

The unidentified nature of the footage has also revived a much more extraordinary theory: that the object could be linked to the alleged US aircraft popularly known as the TR-3B or “Black Manta”.

There is, however, no publicly available evidence establishing that the TR-3B “Black Manta” exists as a US operational aircraft.

What is the TR-3B ‘Black Manta’?

The “Black Manta” is a long-running aviation legend involving an alleged highly secretive, triangular aircraft.

Descriptions attributed to witnesses have portrayed the supposed aircraft as a large, dark triangular object capable of moving quietly and hovering at low altitude. Some accounts have also claimed that it can accelerate or change direction unusually quickly.

Over the years, various theories have attempted to explain how such an aircraft could operate. Some conspiracy theories have claimed that it uses nuclear-powered plasma technology or an alleged form of anti-gravity propulsion.

Those technological claims have not been independently established.

The theory has nevertheless persisted partly because the US has previously operated aircraft whose existence was kept secret for years.

One example is the F-117 Nighthawk. The aircraft made its first flight in 1981 and achieved initial operational capability in 1983, but the US Air Force did not publicly acknowledge its existence until November 1988. Lockheed Martin says the aircraft was kept under strict secrecy for years before its existence was disclosed.

That history has frequently been cited by proponents of the “Black Manta” theory as evidence that the existence of a secret aircraft cannot automatically be ruled out simply because Washington has not acknowledged it.

But the F-117’s existence is documented. The alleged TR-3B is not.

Why Trump’s ‘secret weapons’ remark is being linked to the sightings

The latest speculation has also been fuelled by comments from US President Donald Trump about America’s military capabilities.

In March 2026, Trump said the US had “weapons that nobody’s ever seen before” and weapons “that nobody even knows about, except for a few of us”. He made the remarks while discussing US military capabilities and Iran.

Those comments have since been cited online alongside the Tehran footage, with some users suggesting that the unidentified object could represent a previously unknown American military platform.

Trump’s statement, however, did not identify any aircraft or provide evidence linking such weapons to the objects seen over Iran.

The 2021 ‘Black Manta’ claim

The “Black Manta” theory has appeared in reports about alleged sightings before.

In 2021, Iranian media circulated an image said to show a triangular object on a US aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. Tasnim News Agency, which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speculated that the object could be connected to the alleged TR-3 “Black Manta”.

The image and the speculation surrounding it did not establish that the aircraft exists.

Over the years, alleged satellite silhouettes and witness accounts have similarly been cited by proponents of the theory. None has provided definitive evidence confirming the aircraft’s identity, capabilities or even existence.

What about the 1976 Tehran UFO incident?

The latest videos have attracted particular attention because they emerged almost 50 years after another unexplained incident over Tehran.

On September 19, 1976, residents in the Iranian capital reported seeing a bright object in the night sky. Iranian authorities subsequently dispatched F-4 Phantom fighter aircraft to investigate.

Accounts of the incident said the pilots experienced problems with their aircraft systems while attempting to approach the object. A US Defense Intelligence Agency report on the incident was later released, and the episode became one of the most discussed military UFO cases of the period.

The identity of the object was never definitively established.

The incident has subsequently become part of the broader UFO literature, with accounts focusing on the reported radar contact, the fighter interceptions and alleged weapons-system problems.

From UFO reports to secret aircraft

The connection between the 1976 incident, the latest Tehran videos and the alleged “Black Manta” remains speculative.

What is established is that unidentified lights were recorded over Tehran on September 20 and that the footage circulated widely online. Reuters’ video service has noted that key details such as the object’s size, altitude, distance and speed remain unconfirmed.

What remains unestablished is considerably broader: there is no public evidence that the object was an American aircraft, that it was a TR-3B “Black Manta”, or that the alleged aircraft itself exists.

The history of US aviation does show that genuinely secret aircraft can remain undisclosed for years. The F-117 is a documented example of that secrecy. But that history does not, by itself, establish a connection between the latest Iranian sightings and the aircraft described in “Black Manta” theories.

For now, the objects seen over Iran remain unidentified, while the alleged TR-3B continues to occupy the space between secret-aircraft speculation and aviation folklore.