Flydubai Pilot Recounts Cockpit Struggle to Prime Minister Modi

"I couldn't have received better care," he said. Later, in tears, he told Modi, "Only in conversation with you now do I feel so much pride in myself, until now I didn't feel it. Now it happened, sorry I'm crying in front of you."

Both Riyadh and the UAE reportedly believe the motive for the attempted attack was nationalistic rather than psychological. U.S. President Donald Trump stated, "From what I'm hearing, Iran has a connection to the attempted attack on the plane. However, discussions regarding measures to prevent similar incidents have not yet occurred.

International regulations prohibit flying to destinations where landing is not permitted, highlighting an urgent need for security measures to close such loopholes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that the co-pilot is believed to have undergone "Islamist radicalization" and that while a connection to Iran is still being determined, it should be known within days. He clarified that the UAE is conducting the investigation. Netanyahu also explained that the co-pilot exploited a loophole in procedures that prevent pilots from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel from flying to Israel. "He is an Omani citizen, and we have restrictions that state we cannot employ pilots from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel," Netanyahu said, adding, "It turns out he managed to bypass this.

In a prior interview with CBS, Netanyahu suggested the incident was a "suicide attack attempt rather than a hijacking attempt," emphasizing the need for better background checks on pilots and aircraft screening, and stated there was no intelligence indicating an intent for an attack on the scale of 9/11.