Iran Regime’s New Report on Ukrainian Airliner Crash Underlines Need for Independent International Inquiry

Written by
Mohammad Sadat Khansari
Iran Regime’s New Report on Ukrainian Airliner Crash Underlines Need for Independent International Inquiry
Nearly six months after shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 passengers aboard, the Iranian regime published a ridiculous report blaming an operator, who had “not obtained a license.” The publication of such a bogus report underlines the necessity of an independent international inquiry about this tragedy.

The state-run IRNA news agency, quoted Gholam-Abbas Torki, Tehran’s Military prosecutor, who has published this report, as saying: “The defense system’s operator shot without obtaining a license from the network. This was the huge mistake. When the system operator identifies a target as a threatening target, it must notify its superior, which is the defense network, and act on the network’s command. Two missiles were fired by the defense system, and experts say one of the missiles had no effect on the plane and the other exploded near the plane. Twenty-six seconds is the distance between the first and second shots, but unfortunately even during this time the operator did not get permission to shoot the second shot from the network.”

Torki’s remarks and the mullahs’ regime report are failed attempts to cover up and whitewash the role of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in this tragedy and to help top officials, such as the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, get away from the consequences of this crime against humanity. Yet, Torki’s remarks confirm that this tragedy was preventable.

 

On January 11, after three days of consecutive denial and cover-up, the Iranian regime admitted it has shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, a Boeing 737–800, en route from Tehran International Airport to Kyiv with an anti-aircraft missile. Previously, the regime’s officials said the airplane crashed due to some technical issues. This bogus claim was rapidly rejected by heads of states, including those of the United States and Canada, the latter having dozens of its citizens among the victims. The regime’s acknowledgment, and its crime in downing this passenger jet and hiding it, sparked a new series of protests, with the university students at their forefront. Protesters called for regime change and identified the mullahs’ regime as the root to all crises including the tragedy of shooting down Ukrainian airliners.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in this regard on January 11 said: “Downing of passenger jet is a major crime that people will neither forgive nor forget. The regime had given advance warning about its missile attack on American bases to the Iraqi government and its military and through them to the US. But did not issue any advance notice to our compatriots and did not cancel passenger flights in Iran:”

 

“Hail to the arisen students and people of Tehran who took to the streets with chants of “death to dictator.” she continued: “Chanting, ‘Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, resign, resign’ and ‘death to this murderous regime,’ protesters called for the overthrow of a regime which has brought nothing for Iranian people but death and destruction.”

Mrs. Rajavi further stated: “Those responsible for the slaughter of innocent passengers of an airliner must be prosecuted and punished. Ali Khamenei, as the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Hassan Rouhani, the mullahs’ president, and IRGC commanders are responsible for this horrific crime.”

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