Project Dark Gene was an aerial reconnaissance program run by the Central Intelligence Agency and Imperial Iranian Air Force from bases inside Pahlavi Iran against the Soviet Union.

Dedicated aircraft, air-bases, and U.S. personnel were stationed at numerous sites in Iran and would regularly fly across the border into the USSR through potential holes in their radar coverage.

After the Korean War the USA undertook a series of direct reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union, some at the time secret and highly successful and others that resulted in shootdowns and tense diplomacy such as the 1960 U-2 incident.

In response to a request by the Shah to speed up a similar arms deal the US Embassy in Tehran advised; "Decision should also not overlook or underestimate importance of Iran for vital US national interests."

The Embassy suggested that deliveries of an aircraft type to European Allies and even to the USAF should be considered for diversion to Iran due to the strength of this relationship and the urgency of the issue.

These operations ended with the Iranian Revolution and it is assumed that the ELINT equipment was ceded to the successor Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force.

[6] With the potential to provide information about Iraqi troop movements, CIA official George W. Cave advised Iran's interim government to make use of the system.

[1][2] One instance of combat during Project Dark Gene was an engagement on November 28, 1973 between an RF-4C aircraft piloted by IIAF Major Shokouhnia and backseater USAF Colonel John Saunders and a Soviet MiG-21 flown by Captain Gennadii N. Eliseev.

He was ordered from ground control to press his attack at any cost, and with his cannon jammed after the first shot,[8] he continued by ramming into the Iranian aircraft and losing his life in the process.

The interception was possibly due to Project Dark Gene as the Soviets had increased their air defences on the Iranian border in response to prior incursions.