Tehran has so far refrained from commenting on the news which is circulating in cyberspace and informed diplomatic circles. What is interesting is that the Associated Press carried a new item on Dec. 30, 2012, that a US plane made a forced landing in Iran and it “was not clear why the announcement of the plane's landing was not made earlier”. The report said: “A small American commercial plane left Iran Sunday after it was repaired following an emergency landing at an Iranian airport this month, state TV reported. The plane was forced to land 16 days ago at the airport of the southern city of Ahvaz due to technical failure, Mahmoud Rasoulinejad, head of the state-owned Iran Airports Company, told the TV station”.

According to Russian intelligence sources, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had previously landed at Ahvaz International Airport on an “unscheduled” visit. He had reputedly gone there to receive Clinton for secret negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear programme. It is known that the Obama administration has for some time been in touch with senior representatives of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin quotes Iranian intelligence agents as confirming that the C-12 Huron aircraft is still in their possession in Ahvaz, and that the plane was “forced to land because of technical problems”. The report says that the US Navy Seal member killed in the incident is Commander Job W. Price. As leader of this highly specialized American Special Forces unit, his job was to protect high-ranking diplomats traveling in Middle Eastern and Asian combat zones.

American media have reported that Secretary Clinton will return to work next week after recovering from a “nasty bout with stomach flu” and a “concussion”. She has been ‘unwell’ for the past three weeks, the exact duration since the alleged plane crash, but has since been discharged from hospital.

The GRU report states that US military flight logs recorded by Russian air and space forces confirm that Commander Price and other members of US Navy Seal Team 4 left their base in Urozgan Province, Afghanistan, on a flight to US Naval Support Activity Bahrain where they met with Secretary Clinton. They all transferred to the C-12 Huron that began a flight path to Baghdad, Iraq. But within minutes of leaving Bahrain airspace, the report says, the C-12 Huron “without notice” deviated from the assigned flight path heading, instead, directly towards Iran’s Ahwaz International Airport.

According to Debka file, speculation about Clinton’s health began when she suddenly cancelled participation in the Friends of Syrian forum in Marrakesh on Dec 6, at a critical time in the war. It was first said she was down with flu, but on Dec 9 this was changed to a stomach bug. Then, on Dec. 10, the day before she was to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on the September 11 terrorist attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, the State Department announced she had sustained a concussion after fainting due to dehydration. Experts analysing the hospital bulletins feel something is amiss as blood-thinners are not usually given for blood clots related to concussion; the line of treatment is different.

Rumours about Clinton being seriously injured while on a secret mission to Iran gathered intensity after Dec. 21 when President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry as next Secretary of State.

The sudden and unexplained death of Commander Job Price, 42, SEAL commander in Afghanistan, is believed to be linked to this incident, though the Pentagon officially reported that his sudden death on Dec. 22, in Uruzgan, Afghanistan, was under investigation.

The US State Department on December 31, 2012, denied the report in a terse one line statement to a query from EU Times: Secretary of State Clinton was not injured or involved in a plane crash.

But Hillary Clinton disappeared from the public for an unduly long period in a manner reminiscent of the sudden disappearance of Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, just days after he was appointed as head of Saudi intelligence. At that time, there were reports that Prince Bandar had been killed in a bomb attack on July 23 at the Saudi General Intelligence headquarters in Riyadh. The assassination was attributed to Syrian operatives as retaliation for the Damascus bombing on July 18 which killed members of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, including Defense Minister General Daoud Rajha.

Till date, there has been no official statement from either Saudi Arabia or Syria confirming the alleged assassination. However, Saudi authorities did confirm the death of the Prince's Deputy, Mashaal al-Qarni. Prince Bandar has not been seen in public since the bombing, but is reported to be alive.

The author is Editor, www.vijayvaani.com