| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran announces first arrests in downing of Ukrainian airliner |
| 2020-01-14 |
| [Aljazeera] Iran's judiciary has announced the arrests of an unspecified number of suspects in the accidental downing of a commercial passenger jet during a major confrontation with the United States last week. In comments carried by state media, spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said on Tuesday that "extensive investigations have taken place and some individuals are arrested". He did not offer additional details. Wednesday's downing of the Ukrainian airliner, en route to Kyiv from Tehran, killed all 176 passengers and crew on board. It happened just hours after Iran launched missile attacks on US targets in Iraq in retaliation for the US assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3. After days of denials, Iran on Saturday admitted that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had shot down the plane in a "disastrous mistake", saying air defences were fired in error while on alert after the attacks against two Iraqi bases hosting US troops. US President Donald Trump had previously threatened to strike 52 targets within Iran if Tehran targeted US citizens or assets following Soleimani's killing. Iran's delayed acknowledgement of the shootdown triggered small protests in Tehran and elsewhere, with hundreds of people taking to the streets to direct their ire towards senior officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, amid allegations of being misled. Videos posted on social media that could not be independently verified appeared to show security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protesters. The government has denied a cover-up and police rejected reports that it had opened fire at demonstrators. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #16 Who needs Aegis when we have Iranian. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2020-01-14 19:03 |
| #15 #13 The Mullahs are Dems? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2020-01-14 18:51 |
| #14 I bet they could find five military guys they would like to frame. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2020-01-14 17:49 |
| #13 Like they are really going to arrest anyone. They dont give a shit about the population. Just trying to appease them with words. |
| Posted by: bbrewer126 2020-01-14 17:47 |
| #12 Any mullahs arrested yet? |
| Posted by: gorb 2020-01-14 15:48 |
| #11 From Prudhoe to Maine, lift a Molson To the PM, his face black as coal, "Sunny outlook" Canuck Wit dat noo "coloured" look, Yo Rat On'able Hindoo pal, Jolson... Um... Trudeau. |
| Posted by: Menhadden Flolunter5291 2020-01-14 15:26 |
| #10 #9 Fidel's boy, |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-01-14 13:32 |
| #9 Fidel's boy, Justin, just did it. See my post on Pg 2 |
| Posted by: Frank G 2020-01-14 13:30 |
| #8 Still of the opinion that the IRGC thought that the Americans could be blamed. They're still trying that angle, though. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2020-01-14 13:21 |
| #7 a fair number of the now dead passengers were notable regime opponents, including some Canadians (who were ethnic Iranian) might be a coincidence, might not be |
| Posted by: lord garth 2020-01-14 13:15 |
| #6 It seems like there are a lot of accidental shootdown "acts of Allan" in this part of the world. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2020-01-14 11:17 |
| #5 What's the Persian equivalent of 'Gulenists'? |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2020-01-14 10:44 |
| #4 Execute the trigger pullers. Execute the a*holes who gave "Unilateral Authority to Shoot Down Planes" |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2020-01-14 08:39 |
| #3 Air Defense Artillery command and control conditions: Weapons hold - no fire Weapons tight - fire only upon direction or 'mother may I' approval Weapons free - if it flies, it dies |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2020-01-14 08:30 |
| #2 They had standing permission, per Free Beacon: Iranian Commander Bragged of Unilateral Authority to Shoot Down Planes In 2016, Iran said even the youngest officers do not need authorization to launch attacks I guess we’re not the only ones to push responsibility down the ranks. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-01-14 08:11 |
| #1 Confirmation bias. They were expecting to see incoming bombers, so they interpreted everything they saw to fit their pre-existing idea. The fact that it was an airliner using a flightpath from a busy airport didn't make it through to anyone. They were just so ready to defend Iran. And the commanders weren't in command, otherwise they'd have had to get authorization before launch. We'll see if they just scapegoat the trigger pullers or actually go after the chain of command. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy 2020-01-14 07:45 |