Iran Admits Shooting Down Passenger Airliner Killing 176, Proceeds to Blame Trump

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Jan 11, 2020

Iranian state media admitted Friday that the nation’s military had shot down a passenger airliner that was departing Tehran on Wednesday, confirming the suspicions of many after initial reports claimed that the plane had crashed as a result of mechanical problems.

All 176 on board the Ukrainian-bound Boeing 737 perished in the crash, which took place on a night of heavy military tensions between the United States and Iran. Iran had fired missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American service members earlier in the day, in response to the killing of General Qassim Soleimani.

The Iranian state media statement on the incident calls the event an accident, stating that air defense personnel targeted the civilian airliner after it had turned towards a base of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Iran initially denied claims that the airliner was brought down intentionally. Videos of the burning aircraft show external damage, confirming the admission that the plane was struck by a surface-to-air launched missile.

A spokesman for Iran’s mullahs had earlier referred speculation that the plane was destroyed intentionally as propaganda, calling such claims a “big US lie.”

It’s fortunate that President Trump arranged for cooler heads to prevail, declining to escalate hostilities with the rogue Middle Eastern nation after their humble response to the elimination of Soleimani. Trump is said to have called off a series of devastating counter-attacks on Iran after the missile strikes, taking into account anti-war commentary from Tucker Carlson and finding out the missiles didn’t kill any American service members.

Iran’s bumbling and catastrophic killing of 176 people- a majority of whom were Iranian citizens- shows the consequences of the nation’s militaristic and aggressive foreign policy. Its people deserve better.

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