The Iranian admission of its guilt in accidentally shooting down the Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 contrasts sharply with to the US' reaction to its downing of Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988, says American writer and media commentator E. Michael Jones, outlining the “real cause” behind the tragedy.
On 11 January, Tehran admitted that it had mistakenly downed Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 (Flight PS752) hours after Iran's retaliation strike on Iraqi military bases housing American troops following killing of Quds Commander Qasem Soleimani in a US targeted drone attacked earlier this month. According to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country was at its highest level of readiness expecting possible tit-for-tat measures from the US.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted on Saturday, offering his sincere condolences regarding what had happened.
For his part, the country's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif highlighted that “human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster”, while the Iranian military stated that the parties responsible for the unintentional downing of the Ukrainian plane would be held accountable by the judiciary.
”The reaction of the Iranians was in marked contrast to how the American government reacted to a similar incident, when the guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes shot down the Airbus carrying Iran Air Flight 655 [on 3 July 1988], killing 290 innocent people,…
