Iran a few weeks later. On 30 August 1984, Iranian pilot Captain Rahman Nageeb defected in his F-4E Phantom II serial 3–6552 to Iraq, and his RIO became a POW who was later released with other prisoners. On 21 July 1985, Iranian pilot Mehdi Babaie and two airmen flew their US-made Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter serial 5–4089 to Iraq. On 31 August 1986 an Iranian top-line F-14A Tomcat fighter armed with at least one AIM-54A landed in Iraq. An Iraqi military spokesman identified the pilot and weapon systems officer (WSO) as Major Ahmed Murad Talibi and Captain Hassan Nagafi Habibullah. Upon landing, the aircraft was surrounded by up to 20 US technicians, who took care of it and the defecting pilot, while the WSO, who had opposed the defection became an Iraqi POW, was later released with other prisoners (the pilot was later killed in Europe). The F-14A along with the aforementioned F-4E were flown to Saudi Arabia by US pilots. On 2 September 1986, 2 Iranian F-4 Phantom and 1 F-14 Tomcat were hijacked to Iraq. Iraq On April 2, 1960, Iraqi pilot Lt. Abbud Salim Hasan flew his British-made Hawker Hunter to Syria, where he asked for political asylum, claiming to have escaped from Communist domination in the air force. On November 30, 1963, Iraqi airman Lieutenant Abdel Rahim al-Salim Zuher escaped to the USSR by flying through Iran and landing at an airfield in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. He gave as reason for his defection an unwillingness to participate in the suppression of Kurdish rebels. The aircraft type in which he defected is not known but it may have been a de Havilland Vampire. The pilot was granted political asylum. On 16 August 1966, Iraqi Captain Munir Redfa flew his MiG-21F-13 to Israel as a result of Mossad Operation Diamond. Two years later, Israel gave his MiG-21F-13 and two MiG-17F to the United States for evaluation under the code-name HAVE DOUGHNUT (for the MiG-21), and HAVE DRILL (for the MiG-17). Following Captain Munir Redfa's defection, there were at least two Iraqi pilots who defected to Jordan with their MiG-21F-13 jets. Jordan granted them political asylum but returned the aircraft to Iraq. On the early morning of 2 December 1981, an Iraqi pilot of the 84th Sqn defected with his MiG-23 to Vahdati Air Base in Iran. He managed to land safely, and subsequently proved to be a superb