For three days, Iranian generals hid the incident of accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian plane 4
Early on January 8, Iran launched many missiles targeting US forces stationed at two military bases in Iraq to avenge the killing of Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds task force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran’s armed forces are on the highest alert to prevent US retaliation.
However, Iranian officials did not follow the request because they were worried that closing the airspace would cause panic, causing many people to think that a military conflict with the US could occur.
After the raid, Iran’s central air defense command warned US military aircraft carrying cruise missiles taking off from the United Arab Emirates.
Iranian search and rescue staff at the scene of Boeing 737-800 number PS752 that crashed on January 8, killing 176 people.
When the missile control officer discovered an unidentified aircraft taking off toward the missile site, he tried to contact the command post to ask for an order to shoot but failed.
General Hajizadeh, then in western Iran to supervise the missile attack, immediately returned to Tehran to meet with Commander of the Iranian Army and Commander of the Central Air Defense Force Abdolrahim Mousavi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces
`I advise them not to tell lower-level air defense units about the accidental shooting for fear that it will affect their quick response when the US attacks. This is for Iran’s national security. If the information is disclosed,
Iran’s army generals and revolutionary guards secretly established an investigation committee with members of the IRGC’s aerospace force, the army’s air defense force, intelligence forces and cyber warfare experts.
This committee examines data from airports, flight paths, radar networks, warnings and exchanges between the missile operations department and the command center.
On the afternoon of January 8, the investigation committee concluded that the Boeing 737-800 was shot down due to human error.
Iranian armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi declared on the evening of January 8 that theories that the plane was shot down by a missile were `complete lies`.
Air tragedy due to Iran’s mistake
The plane’s fateful 3 minutes were mistakenly shot down by Iran.
Ukrainian investigators arrived in Iran on January 9.
However, Iranian officials wonder whether the Western countries’ information is correct.
President Rouhani repeatedly called military commanders but they did not respond, Iranian officials said.
Rabiei issued a statement on the morning of January 10 calling `the accusation that Iran shot down the plane a big lie`.
`The president was furious and demanded to immediately announce that Iran had made a mistake that led to the tragedy and had to accept the consequences,` said officials close to Rouhani.
Mr. Rouhani said Canadian and American investigators would release evidence of the mistaken plane shooting.
Iranians attend a memorial service for victims of the mistakenly shot down plane held at Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran on January 11.
President Rouhani briefed a number of senior government officials.
Iran’s National Security Council met in an emergency meeting and drafted two communiques, the first published by the armed forces and the second for President Rouhani.
Iran admitted on television on the morning of January 11 that the IRGC mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane.
In a statement released an hour and 15 minutes later, Rouhani said he discovered the conclusion of the committee investigating the cause of the plane crash `just a few hours earlier` and asked the Iranian armed forces to apologize.
Nguyen Tien (According to NY Times)
