Quiet Please: French Jet's Sonic Boom Shakes Paris, Disrupts Tennis

A picture taken on June 4, 2018, from the observatory deck of the Montparnasse Tower in Paris, shows a view of the Eiffel Tower and the Défense business district in the background. (AFP)
A picture taken on June 4, 2018, from the observatory deck of the Montparnasse Tower in Paris, shows a view of the Eiffel Tower and the Défense business district in the background. (AFP)
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Quiet Please: French Jet's Sonic Boom Shakes Paris, Disrupts Tennis

A picture taken on June 4, 2018, from the observatory deck of the Montparnasse Tower in Paris, shows a view of the Eiffel Tower and the Défense business district in the background. (AFP)
A picture taken on June 4, 2018, from the observatory deck of the Montparnasse Tower in Paris, shows a view of the Eiffel Tower and the Défense business district in the background. (AFP)

A French fighter jet broke the sound barrier on Wednesday as it scrambled to join a commercial jet that had lost contact with air traffic control, causing a sonic boom that reverberated through Paris and its suburbs, the defense ministry said.

The boom rattled windows, scattered startled birds, briefly interrupted tennis at the French Open and prompted a flood of calls to emergency services.

In a city already tense after a knife attack outside the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Friday, the blast sent people on to their balconies to see what had caused it and prompted intense messaging on social media.

“A Rafale (warplane) based at Saint-Dizier, intervening to assist an airline which had lost contact, was allowed to break the sound barrier to join the airplane in trouble. It broke the sound barrier east of Paris,” army spokesman colonel Stephane Spet said in a statement.

He added that a seconds after the boom - which happened at an altitude of 10 km and was magnified by cloud cover - the passenger jet, an Embraer 145, reestablished contact with air traffic control.

France’s DGAC civil aviation authority said the warplane was dispatched after contact was lost with two civil aircraft.

It said that one was a Falcon 50, operated by a private Brazilian company, on a flight between Cape Verde and Brussels. The other was an Embraer 145, operated by regional airline Amelia, on a flight between the French cities of Brives and Saint-Brieuc.

DGAC said communication with both aircraft had been restored, adding that it would launch an inquiry into why contact had been lost.



Iran’s Khamenei Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Vows to Keep Enriching Uranium

Iranians drive past a wall painting of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei (R) and late Iranian supreme leader Khomeini (L) on a street in Tehran, Iran, 01 June 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive past a wall painting of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei (R) and late Iranian supreme leader Khomeini (L) on a street in Tehran, Iran, 01 June 2025. (EPA)
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Iran’s Khamenei Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Vows to Keep Enriching Uranium

Iranians drive past a wall painting of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei (R) and late Iranian supreme leader Khomeini (L) on a street in Tehran, Iran, 01 June 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive past a wall painting of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei (R) and late Iranian supreme leader Khomeini (L) on a street in Tehran, Iran, 01 June 2025. (EPA)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday a US proposal for a nuclear deal was against Tehran's national interests, and that the country would not abandon uranium enrichment.

The issue of uranium enrichment has been a sticking point in negotiations between the US and Iran. Uranium enrichment remained key to Tehran's nuclear program, Khamenei said in a speech.

On Monday, an Iranian diplomat told Reuters Tehran was poised to reject a US proposal to end a decades-old nuclear dispute, dismissing it as a "non-starter" that fails to soften Washington's stance on uranium enrichment or to address Tehran's interests.

Tehran says it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and has long denied accusations by Western powers that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.