Free Republic

The black box of a Ukrainian passenger airliner mistakenly shot down over Iran last month is damaged and Iran will not hand it over to another country despite pressure for access, state media quoted top Iranian ministers as saying on February 19. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that he had "impressed upon" Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that a complete and independent investigation into the shooting down of the airliner had to be carried out. Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was brought down after it took off from Tehran on January 8, killing everyone on board....

AIN ASSAD AIR BASE, Iraq — Iran struck back Tuesday for the killing of a top Iranian general last week, firing a series of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in a major escalation. Iranian state TV reported the strikes were in retaliation for the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whose death Friday prompted angry calls to avenge his slaying. A U.S. official said there were no immediate reports of American casualties. Here are the latest updates: Update 9:30 a.m. EST Jan. 8: President Donald Trump is expected to speak Wednesday morning amid rising tensions...

Iran has announced the arrest of a person who recorded a video last week showing missiles striking the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed outside of Tehran – but it may be a case of mistaken identity. The person, who was detained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, is expected to face charges related to national security following the military mishap that downed the plane, according to Iranian media reports. Yet the London-based journalist who first posted that person’s footage on Twitter, the BBC says, is claiming that authorities have arrested the wrong individual. “The person who is a source of the video...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday appeared to cast blame on President Trump and the US for the downing by Iran of a Ukrainian jetliner that was allowed to take off from Tehran following an Iranian airstrike on US troops in Iraq just hours earlier. “I think if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families,” Trudeau told Global News television.

A senior Iranian commander who admitted to Iran's role in the recent downing of a Ukrainian airplane bragged in 2016 that even the youngest Iranian officers have unilateral authority to conduct strikes like the one that downed the Ukrainian plane, killing every civilian aboard, according to video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. ... "Ahead of time, scenarios have been planned and units have been given the authorization," Hajizadeh said in the 2016 interview, which was independently translated for the Free Beacon. "Look, when it comes to the shooting of defensive missiles, if an enemy aircraft is incoming, why would...

What began as vigils for the students killed when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard mistakenly shot down an airliner turned into large anti-government protests Saturday, with thousands of students chanting “Death to Liars!” and calling for the resignation of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. ... “I wish I had died, and I wouldn’t have seen such an incident,” said Iranian Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, the Guards’ aerospace commander, at a press conference. But his claim that a “request had been made to clear the sky from civil flights at that time, but it did not happen due to reservations” infuriated Ukraine...

Iran admits IRGC shot down Flight 752, ending regime's Soleimani PR bonanza It was a short-lived honeymoon for the Islamic Republic regime — a rare wave of popular support, drowned out by a bigger tide of government neglect and recklessness. Much as Iran's authorities may hate admitting the destruction of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 to other governments, they are almost certainly more concerned about the reaction from their own people. The regime's hopes of turning the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani into a moment of renewal for its flagging fortunes were destroyed along with Flight PS752. From the point...

"AmirKabir university students are chanting "We hadn't our loved ones killed to support killer #Khamenei" and also "#IRGC be ashamed & leave our country" "Special Pasdaran Unit of #Iran's Islamic Regime Police is now brutally attacking & suppressing #AmirKabir university students who are protesting against #Iran's Islamic Regime over shot-down of Flight #PS752 " "In addition to the students of #AmirKabir university, students of #Sharif university are also protesting "

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after Iran admitted shooting down a Ukrainian airline and killing all 176 people on board, called for assurances from Tehran “of readiness for a full and open investigation, bringing those responsible to justice, the return of the bodies of the dead, payment of compensation, official apologies through diplomatic channels.” ---------- A statement by the Iranian Armed Forces on Jan. 11: 3. In such critical and critical conditions, Flight PS752 of the Ukrainian airlines departs from Imam Khomeini Airport and, while in rotation, is completely approaching a sensitive military center of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and...

Sara Saadat was a psychology student at Alliant International University in Scripps Ranch, the school said. She was returning from a visit with family in Iran when Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 crashed near the Iranian capital Tehran. Alliant is a for-profit college with six campuses across California, with San Diego being the main one. The school said it will have support counselors available at the Scripps Ranch campus when spring classes resume next week. On Thursday, officials in the U.S., Canada and Britain said their intelligence indicated it was "highly likely" the plane was unintentionally shot down by an...

Full text: "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."

Vice President Pence said Wednesday that intelligence is showing that Iran is directing its associated militias not to attack U.S. targets in the week after Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death. Pence told “CBS Evening News” that the militias, of which Soleimani was the “primary leader,” are being instructed to hold back on striking the U.S. “Frankly, we’re receiving some encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages to those very same militias not to move against American targets or civilians,” he said. “And we hope that that message continues to echo.” CBS’s Norah O’Donnell asked the vice president if the strike authorized...

U.S. officials have intercepted chatter and received confirmation that terrorist leaders in Iraq have been fleeing the region and have gone into hiding fearing United States intelligence capabilities after the successful airstrike that killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani, according to multiple sources that spoke to SaraACarter.com. Soleimani, the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, was killed early Friday morning as he stepped off his plane and headed to the SUV at the Baghdad Airport in Iraq. The U.S. developed extraordinary actionable intelligence to target the most wanted terrorist in the world and it was a ‘precision...

After losing its top strategist, military commander and arch-terrorist, Qassem Suleimani, the Iranian theocracy is weighing responses. One, Iran can quiet down and cease military provocations. After attacking tankers off its coast, destroying an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, shooting down a U.S. drone and being responsible for the killing and wounding of Americans in Iraq, Iran could now keep quiet. It might accept that its strategy of escalation has failed to lead to any quantifiable advantage. Trump did not prove a passive "Twitter tiger," as his critics mocked. Instead, he upped the stakes to Iran's disadvantage and existential danger....

An Ukrainian Airlines plane carrying 180 passengers and crew crashed tonight just minutes ago after takeoff from Tehran, Iran! This comes on the same night that Iran fired a dozen missiles at US bases in Iraq. Al Hadath Dubai News reported a missile took down the Ukrainian flight. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/breaking-dubai-news-iranian-missile-took-down-ukrainian-plane-that-exploded-after-takeoff-from-tehran-airport/

BREAKING: Ukrainian passenger plane carrying 180 people crashes near Tehran - local media

Iran is refusing to hand over the black box of the crashed Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 to Boeing, the head of Tehran’s civil aviation organisation was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Ali Abedzadeh also said it was not clear which country Iran would send the box to so that its data could be analysed, semi-official Mehr news agency reported. Ukraine's Tehran embassy initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement.

Al Hadath stating that the Ukrainian aircraft was shot down accidentally by Iranian air defense systems.