Killing all 176 passengers and crew Jan. 8, a Ukrainian Boeing-737-800 airliner Flight PS752 suddenly exploded at 8,000 feet, plummeting into an Iranian field near the town of Shahedshar. Iranian authorities insisted the crash was “mechanical failure,” something so preposterous, it raises even more suspicions about the likely cause: A surface-to-air-missile. What gives away the probable cause is Iranian officials refusing to allow any international access to the crash site, very easily confirming the presence of explosive residue or missile components from a Russian-made Tor surface-to-air missile. Whether the missile was launched deliberately or accidentally is anyone’s guess, coming only six days after 73-year-old President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon Jan. 2 to hit Al Quds chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Kataib Hezbollah chief Abu Mahid al-Munhandis with a predator drone at the Baghdad Airport.
While Iranian officials claim they recovered the “black boxes” or flight-data recorders, aviation experts doubt pilots would not have called in a “mayday” signal before the 737-800 exploded on impact. Pentagon officials, requesting anonymity because they’re not allowed to speak with the press, indicated that it’s “highly likely” a missile brought down the jetliner, killing all 176 on board. “Some people say it was mechanical. I personally, I don’t think that’s even a question, personally. So we’ll see what happens,” said Trump, hinting at an Iranian missile. “I have my suspicions. It’s a tragic thing when I see that, it’s a tragic thing. But somebody could have made a mistake on the other side,” giving Iran the benefit of the doubt. It’s also possible that Iran shot the jetliner down to retaliate for Soleimani’s death. Iran’s military was on high-alert after the Jan. 2 U.S. predator drone strike..
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for a “full, transparent investigation,” something that’s not happening with Iranian officials not letting any outside party in the crash site. With or without investigating the debris at the crash site, plane crash investigators can draw reasonable conclusions about probable cause. “Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization [CAOI] chief Ali Abedzadeh outright dismissed the idea that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane. “The issue of the missiles impact on the aircraft cannot be true in any way,” Abedezadeh said, before finishing a detailed report based on surveying the crash site. Dismissing out-of-hand the very real possibility of a missile strike shows the Iranians are actively covering up what happened. Iranian Air Defense Authority has Soviet-era Tor or SA-15/Gauntlet system, capable of bringing down a commercial passenger jet.
Abedezadeh said Iran would not turn the “black boxes” over to the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board [NTSB] to review the data. “This accident will be investigated by Iran’s aviation organization, but the Ukrianians can also be present,” Abdezadeh said, though, so far, they haven’t been allowed access to the crash site. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects “a thorough and independent investigation will be concluded in accordance with international law,” demanding that Ukraine be allowed to inspect the crash site. Killed on Ukrainian Flight PS752 were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians [including the crew], 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Britons and three Germans, including 15 children, mainly college-aged students returning to Ukraine after their Christmas break. As many as 65 victims may have had dual Iranian citizenship.
Citing “mechanical failure” as the probable cause, Abdezadeh capitalized on recent Boeing 737-Max planes, currently grounded March 13, 2019 to repair software malfunctions that caused the Ethiopian Airlines crash March 10, 2019 killing 189 and Oct. 29, 2018 Indonesian Lion Air crash, killing 157. In both crashes, pilots called in distress calls to airport authorities. Ukrainian official clocked Flight PS752 taking off from Iran’s Iman Khomenei International Airport at 6:12 AM local time, disappearing off the radar at 6:14 AM. Canadian President Justin Trudeau confirmed his sources tell him Flight PS 752 was downed by an Iranian missile. “The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile,” refuting Iran’s denials, continuing to defy all available evidence, including a videotape, showing the jetliner was struck at 6:14 AM local time by a missile.
Iran’s refusal to allow international inspectors to examine the crash site tells the story of what brought down Flight PS 752. Trudeau and Zelensky want a fully independent investigation, not one controlled by the Iranian government. When you consider Flight PS 752 took off from Khomenei International Airport, it’s inconceivable that it could have been an accidental shoot-down. Reports circulating about an “accidental” shoot-down don’t take into account Iran’s promise to take revenge for Soleimani’s Jan. 2 targeted assassination by a U.S. predator drone. Contrary to official Iranian statements, all evidence points to Ukraine’s commercial airline shot down by a Soviet-era Tor surface-to-air missile. “Something very terrible happened. Very devastating,” Trump said, pointing to an Iranian surface-to-air missile. All other explanations make no sense, demanding that Iran own what happened.
