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Iran’s Trouble Has Just Begun – Why It Finally Admits “Unintentionally” Shot Down Civilian Ukrainian Plane



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Jan 12 2020
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After insisting for days that a Boeing 737-800 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 – crashed due to engine problems, Iran finally admitted on Saturday (Jan 11) that it was its own military that had accidentally shot down the civilian jetliner. Iranian officials had initially denied claims by the U.S., Britain and Canada that the jet was downed by missiles fired by Iran.

 

Heck, Iranian government even went as far as blaming the U.S. for its “psychological warfare” in the incident. But when evidence was fast stacking up against Iranian’s side of the story, Iran had no choice but to make the wise choice – admits its mistake. Apparently, Ukrainian president had met U.S. embassy officials and obtained vital data about the plane crash.

 

Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, said at a televised news conference on Friday that he was absolutely “certain that no missiles hit the aircraft.” He argued that the missile theory could not be “scientifically correct” because it was not possible for an airliner to be hit and “continue flying for 60 to 70 seconds”. He probably had watched too many Hollywood movies.

Iran Accidentally Shot Down Civilian Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

When only the U.S. and Britain accused Iran of shooting down the jet, you probably can argue about propaganda machines or even blame the evil CIA. After all, former U.S. President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had lied (some blamed on flawed intelligence) about the existence of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in Iraq, and invaded the country.

 

But when the Canada intelligence said the same thing, it raised eyebrows. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said intelligence analyses indicated that a surface-to-air missile hit the plane. The fact that Trudeau wasn’t confrontational and said it could have been an “unintentional” act, despite 57 Canadians (revised from 63) were killed, already suggested he had received reliable intelligence report.

 

Canadian PM Trudeau was backed by several other European Union leaders, including Netherlands Premier Mark Rutte and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, a Norwegian. In fact, the EU foreign ministers had urged Iran to be transparent. That’s a polite and diplomatic way of telling Iran that it had screwed up. Was it possible that the U.S., Britain and the EU all conspired to frame Iran?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Interestingly, Russia, arguably the biggest and strongest ally of Iran, didn’t come to its defence instantly when US intelligence says that a military satellite detected infrared “blips” of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion. The Kremlin has the same, if not more powerful, military technology in the sky constantly detecting missile launches and other threats.

 

If the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union have been cooking fake data and evidence to put the blame on Iran for the downing of the Ukrainian civilian aircraft, Moscow would gladly publish its evidence to humiliate the Western countries. To understand the ability of Russian intelligence and surveillance, one has to go back to 2015.

 

After a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M attack aircraft near the Syria-Turkey border on 24 November 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately retaliated. Moscow showed the proof how Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family had benefited from the illegal smuggling of oil from territory controlled by the ISIS terrorist group.

 

berat-albayrak-president-recep-tayyip-erdogans-son-in-law

To humiliate the Turkish president, the Moscow defence ministry released satellite images showing columns of tanker trucks busy loading with oil at an installation controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria, before crossing the border into Turkey. Moscow told all and sundry – “Turkey is the main consumer of the oil stolen from its rightful owners, Syria and Iraq.”

 

Conveniently, Erdogan’s son heads one of the biggest energy companies, and his son-in-law – Berat Albayrak – was appointed energy minister. Erdogan’s “family business” in smuggling ISIS oil has sparked accusations of nepotism and corruption. But that was not the juiciest part. Russia also exposed the same criminal networks were used to supply weapons and equipments to ISIS.

 

Then came Trump haters – New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN and other mainstream news media. A video, verified and published by the New York Times, showed an Iranian missile exploding near a plane above Parand, near Tehran’s airport, the same area where the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 stopped transmitting its signal before it crashed.

 

So when even newspapers who despise Donald Trump like the New York Times and CNN ran news that supported Trump administration’s conclusion that the Iranian had “most likely” but mistakenly hit the Ukrainian aircraft, killing all 176 aboard, it’s near to impossible for Iran to deny anymore. Still, even after its admission, Iran refused to go down without a fight.

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif apologised but blamed America anyway, and pointed fingers at “human error”. He fired a Twitter message, claiming – “Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.” Iranian military said it mistook Flight 752 for a “hostile target”, but the Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces blamed the plane for having flown too close to a “sensitive military site”.

 

Promising to upgrade its systems to prevent future tragedies, the Iranian military also said it was at its “highest level of readiness” amid the heightened tensions with the United States. Like it or not, that statement clearly shows the lack of readiness of the Iranian troops in the event of a real war with the United States. A war with the U.S. has yet to begin, and they had already killed 176 civilians.

Iran Top General Qassem Soleimani - Killed By US President Donald Trump

According to the New York Times, Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, revealed why the Flight 752 was shot down. Apparently, the Ukrainian civilian plane was mis-identified as a cruise missile by an air defence operator. Unable to contact the command centre for confirmation, he had 10 seconds to decide.

 

The panicked operator decided to pull the trigger. However, the U.S. saw Iranian radar signals lock onto the jetliner before it was shot down. That was part of the evidence passed on to the Ukraine government, which Iran could not dispute. To make matters worse, Iran had initially said they will not share the airplane’s black box containing flight data and cockpit voice recorder.

 

The biggest question being raised was why the Iranian authorities kept the country’s air space open during a military operation. This is not an operation where the U.S. was the party who initiated the attack. It was Iran who decided when to push the buttons and sent 22 ballistic missiles raining at two U.S. military bases in Iraq. Yet, the U.S. knew they had to issue a no-fly order, but Iran didn’t.

Iranian Surface-to-Air Missile Defence System – SA-15 Gauntlet

Iran has a lot of explaining to do, especially after its own 82 citizens were killed by two Russian-made SA-15 “Gauntlet” surface-to-air missiles. President Hassan Rouhani said Iran “deeply regrets this disastrous mistake”, and promised that those responsible for “this unforgivable mistake” would be identified and “prosecuted.” Unfortunately, it’s not over even after “a full admission of guilt” by Tehran.

 

There will be a full and open investigation and Iran has to make official apologies through diplomatic channels, as demanded by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Already, Iran was being condemned for bulldozing the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 into piles, as if trying to cover-up the disastrous mistake, rather than photographing and mapping the coordinates.

 

Ukraine was asking for compensation and it’s a matter of time before other countries affected would sue Iran for the pricey mistake. Does Iran still have an appetite for revenge now? Most likely not, as it has a bigger problem than lawsuits or compensations. Iranians have expressed fury toward their government – for misleading and lying about what had brought down the plane.

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - Crying

Yes, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei can forget about rallying his people to avenge the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, at least temporarily. Instead of Americans, the people of Iran now wanted those in the government who were hiding the truth from the public to be investigated and prosecuted. Heads must roll. Thousands of angry protesters have taken to the street.

 

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Comments

Iran should have brushed the whole thing aside, just like the USA did when it shot down an Iranian civilian aircraft killing all aboard.

Nice bit of shrill attacking Iran on behalf of the American neocons, though!

But why?! Running out of articles attacking Najib and shoring up neocon stooge Anwar?

and who knows.. this could be the start of Iran Revolution 2.0!

Or a neocon flop like Venezuela 2.0…

Or even a Hong Kong flop 2.0..!

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