UPDATE: 11/01/20 – 13:52
Iran have admitted the Ukrainian plane was mistaken for a cruise missile and shot down by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Apparently it flew too close to a sensitive Iranian base.
Recent heightened tensions following on from the US attack in Iraq, that killed a number of Iranian and Iraqi military personnel, including Iran’s commander Qasem Soleimani, as well as direct threats from Donald Trump to target 52 sites, including some cultural, have been blamed for destablising the region and contributing to, what appears to be, a nervous response to a perceived threat.
Never the less, questions still remain. It’s understood that a no-fly zone had been requested by the military base prior to the incident on Wednesday but that this request had been rejected. Also, given that Imam Khomeini International Airport is located within minutes of the base so it’s fair to assume they would have been aware of regular domestic flights to and from the airport. It might also be fair to assume they might have been given domestic flight plans in advance.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered an investigation and instructed that necessary measures be put in place to avoid any further tragedies.
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Video footage of an alleged missile attack on a Ukrainian plane in Iran raises more questions than it answers. Tragically, the Boeing 737-800 was carrying 176 passengers at the time and their loved ones will understandably want answers. Unfortunately, answers are hard to come by at this stage and the US seem worryingly keen to control the narrative from the get go, rather than wait until all the facts and evidence have been presented.
The obvious things to notice about the footage are…
- There are at least 3 videos from the night. One showing an impact and the second, in another location, showing what we assume is the plane crashing to the ground.
- All the videos show handheld amateur footage and are not very clear
- It’s night time and you can’t actually see the plane
- What you see is a ball of light rising and hitting something in the air
- Although there’s a momentary flash (as we see what we think is a missile impact the plane), you don’t actually see the plane (if that’s what it was) on any fire until you get to the second video which looks like it was taken some time later at a different location.
The obvious questions that spring to mind are, why would someone be taking video footage of a missile attack on a domestic flight? It can’t just be a member of the public who just happened to be taking video footage of the sky on his mobile phone for no apparent reason and if they were just watching planes then why they do this in the pitch dark when you can’t see anything and you have no special equipment?
Of course the other obvious question is, given that there were no US or Israeli citizens on this plane, how would Iran benefit from taking down a domestic flight? Which then has to lead you on to the next question – ‘who’ would benefit? Whose interest would it serve to make Iran look like pariah?
Of course, this could have been an accident. For example, given recent rising tensions, a jittery Iranian commander somewhere might have mistaken the plane for a drone but this is a difficult argument to stomach, given that Imam Khomeini International Airport is just 2 minutes away and if there is a local military base then surely they would expect regular domestic flights and would likely have even been aware of flight plans in advance. Plus this was a massive Boeing 737-800 carrying 176 passengers, not the sort of thing you’d mistake it for a drone.
Of course the other obvious question is – why are the MSM not asking any of these questions?
