The US military is reportedly looking into a possible UFO sighting over Iraq, after podcasters said they obtained an image allegedly taken by US intelligence several years ago.
The picture is said to have been captured in April 2016 by a US intelligence reconnaissance aircraft. It appears to show an unusual orb-shaped object flying above an unidentified city in Iraq.
Journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp later obtained the image and discussed it on their Weaponized podcast, where they referred to it as ‘photographic evidence’ of a UFO.
Corbell said: “It is a military-filmed image, an intelligence agency-filmed image, and it’s called the Mosul orb.”
The podcasters claimed that while the still image is not classified, the video it came from was included in a classified briefing prepared by the Pentagon’s former Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF).
That task force previously handled investigations into UFO-related incidents before being succeeded by the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in July last year.
Corbell, who is also a filmmaker and ufologist, went on to explain: “This is a reconnaissance plane in Northern Iraq, and this is from a four-second video, where this metallic sphere moves alongside the craft without any descent, any falling, in any way.
“And this is one of the pieces of video and photographic evidence that is within the intelligence community, saying, ‘This is a UFO. We caught one, what can we determine from it?’
“And there’s just so much of this stuff. You’ll never see this in the public realm other than here.”
The Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment from the New York Post regarding the image’s authenticity.
In a tweet, Corbell added: “The MOSUL ORB is important military filmed UFO evidence – from a conflict zone – public for analysis. And it’s just the tip of the spear.”
A recently released Pentagon document shows that the US government has yet to explain more than 150 UFO reports.
The report said unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) reporting is ‘increasing’, with AARO and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) stating that the rise is ‘partially due to a better understanding of the possible threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms’.
It also suggested the increase may be ‘due to reduced stigma surrounding UAP reporting’.
“This increased reporting allows more opportunities to apply rigorous analysis and resolve events,” the report stated.