January 12th, 2020 • 2h 46m

1207: Imminent Threat

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Iran

Scientists worked at the Nuke plants

It’s coming out that the “Canadians” and a few Russians on

the Ukrainian plane shot down were primarily scientists and engineers working

in Iran nuke plants. (Their names and occupations are being published on the

web.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/08/176-people-died-ukrainian-plane-crash-iran-here-are-some-their-stories/

Fearful those plants could be US drone targets, the

scientists decided to leave as a group (so none would be held hostage) until

the conflict was over.

Because they knew the plans and ops of the Iran nuke

programs (and knew of Obama Adm. Uranium1 sourcing of material?), they could be

debriefed. Iran told the scientists they would moved to safety, but warned they

would not be allowed to leave Iran. They did not listen.

Please keep my name private. I'm an intelligence analyst and

don't want any of my opinions to pop up later. 😁

Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 crash: The stories of those killed in Iran - The Washington Post

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Archived Version

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 08:22

The fatal crash unfolded during a particularly tense time in the region: In a growing conflict with the United States, triggered by the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles targeting Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops four hours before the Ukraine International Airlines jet went down.

The victims include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, in addition to nine Ukrainian crew members, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons, according to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry. More than 140 passengers were Iranian nationals, according to Iranian officials, suggesting that many possessed dual citizenship.

A list of names and birth dates shared by the airline capture the human scale of the loss. Some of the victims had barely begun their lives: Thirteen were younger than 10. Two were born in 2014, another in 2016 and one in 2018. Many victims shared the same last name, a sign they were probably traveling with family. Almost half of the passengers were born in 1990 or after.

As the extent of the tragedy continued to unfold, so did details about the lives of the victims. Some had been traveling; others had been living abroad and visiting loved ones. At least two couples were newlyweds.

Saeed Khademasadi Tahmasebi, a 35-year-old engineer and postgraduate researcher at Imperial College London, had recently married Niloofar Ebrahim, a psychology student in London: They both perished on the plane, his brother-in-law, Amir Vaheat, told the British newspaper the Times. The couple had married in Britain and then traveled to Iran for a wedding ceremony.

''They were a wonderful, beautiful couple and they were so happy together,'' Tahmasebi's sister, Sally, 41, told Britain's Telegraph newspaper. ''This is too terrible for words. We cannot believe what has happened.''

Imperial College London, one of Britain's top universities for science and engineering, paid tribute to Tahmasebi. ''Saeed was a brilliant engineer with a bright future,'' the university tweeted. ''His contributions to systems engineering earned respect from everyone who dealt with him and will benefit society for years to come. He was a warm, humble and generous colleague and close friend to many in our community.''

BP engineer and British national Sam Zokaei was also on the plane. He was 42 and had been working for the company for over a decade.

''We are shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic loss of our friend and colleague and all of our thoughts are with his family and friends,'' the company said in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Another British victim was identified by British media as 40-year-old Mohammed Reza Kadkhoda-Zadeh. The divorced father of a 9-year-old girl had traveled to visit family in Iran during the Christmas holiday break and was on his way back to Britain via Ukraine.

Kadkhoda-Zadeh ran a dry-cleaning business in the seaside town of Brighton and was fondly recalled by Stephen Edgington, who ran a business next door.

''It is so shocking and it is very upsetting for everyone who knew him,'' Edgington told the Times. ''He was a lovely man, very quiet and polite but a really nice guy '-- we got on very well indeed and it is a tragedy.''

Canadian officials say that there are at least 63 Canadians among the victims, according to preliminary reports, but noted that the number could change as more information becomes available. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement Wednesday expressing his shock and condolences.

''Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians' questions are answered,'' he said in the statement. ''Today, I assure all Canadians that their safety and security is our top priority. We also join with the other countries who are mourning the loss of citizens.''

The Ukrainian flight was popular among Iranians traveling to Canada because there haven't been direct flights between the two countries since 2012, when Canada broke off diplomatic relations. The route was also popular with Iranian nationals studying in Canada because they cannot catch connecting flights in the United States as a result of U.S. immigration policies, said Payman Parseyan, a member of the Iranian Canadian community in Edmonton.

Canada has a sizable Iranian diaspora that grew after the country's revolution in 1979. According to a 2016 census, more than 210,000 people in Canada are of Iranian descent.

The crash has ''devastated'' Edmonton's ''fairly tightknit'' Iranian community, said Parseyan, who is the former president of the city's Iranian Heritage Society. Iranians living in the city were closely watching coverage of the Iranian missile strikes in Iraq on Tuesday night when they learned there had been a plane crash. They quickly began piecing together whether they knew any of the victims on the Telegram messaging app.

''Initially, it was three names, and even with three names, we were getting goose bumps because they were our community members,'' Parseyan said. ''Then it went to 10, and we were in disbelief. As the night progressed, the number got to 27.''

The University of Alberta in Canada, near Edmonton, has confirmed that two married professors, as well as the couple's two daughters, were on the Ukrainian jet.

Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand were both professors of engineering and had been traveling with daughters Daria and Dorina, Masoud Ardakani, the associate chair of the university's electrical and computer engineering department, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Wednesday.

Parseyan said he knew seven of the crash victims quite well, including Mousavi.

''He was always laughing, always making fun of my political views,'' Parseyan said of Mousavi. ''He was a nice, enjoyable person to be around.''

Matthew Grant, director of media relations at the University of Waterloo in Canada, said the school will provide support to anyone there affected by the crash.

''We are aware of reports that Marzieh (Mari) Foroutan and Mansour Esnaashary Esfahani, two University of Waterloo PhD students, were listed on the passenger manifest of flight PS752,'' Grant said in a statement. ''We continue to work with the relevant authorities to obtain more information.''

Foroutan, who is listed as a PhD student in geography on a University of Waterloo website, was researching how algorithms and technologies in remote sensing could be applied to study climate change. Esfahani is listed as a PhD student in civil engineering.

The Canadian victims also included Parisa Eghbalian, a dentist in Aurora, Ontario, a town outside Toronto, and her daughter Reera Esmaeilion. The pair had traveled to Iran to celebrate the engagement of Eghbalian's sister, Manijeh Ghotbi, one of her co-workers told The Post. Eghbalian's husband and Esmaeilion's father is Hamed Esmaeilion, a dentist and award-winning writer in Persian.

Eghbalian, who immigrated to Canada from Iran in 2010, was ''a very kind, nice and happy person,'' Ghotbi said. ''I will never, ever forget her laugh and smile.''

Reera, she added, had big green eyes and was ''beautiful inside and out.''

Alan Shepard, president of Western University in London, Ontario, said in a statement that four of its students '-- three graduate students and one incoming graduate student '-- are among the victims.

The University of Guelph confirmed that Milad Ghasemi Ariani, a PhD student in marketing, and Ghanimat Azhdari, a PhD student in geography, were among the victims. The two were returning from visiting Iran, said Franco Vaccarino, the university's president.

Azhdari belonged to a group called the ICCA Consortium, which advocates for indigenous people and their lands. The group said she was a member of the Qashqai tribe and described her in a statement as a ''true force of nature'' and one of its ''most cherished flowers.''

''They leave behind families and people they love and they come to Canada, and often they're second-guessing, 'Should I leave my family behind to do this?' '' Parseyan told Canada's Global News. ''Then they move here and they do all this, just to board a plane and have it all washed away.''

The Iranian Student News Agency also reported that a number of Iranian students were among the dead.

On social media, Iranians mourned the death of passengers Pouneh Gorji, born in 1994, and Arash Pourzarabi, born in 1993. The two had married six days earlier, according to local media accounts.

The couple were computer engineering students at Sharif University, an Iranian school on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. The university listed them among at least 15 Sharif students and alumni who died in the crash.

As Iranians sought news of loved ones, one surreal tweet was making the rounds.

''I had predicted that night before my flight, the war would begin,'' Mojtaba Abbas Nejhad, who was on his winter break from the University of Toronto, tweeted on Tuesday. ''Guys, forgive any good and bad you experienced with me.''

Abbas Nejhad was on the Ukraine-bound plane.

Amanda Coletta reported from Toronto.

Correction: Because of inaccurate information provided by the University of Guelph, the article incorrectly reported that Hamed Alibeiki was killed in the Ukraine International Airlines crash. The article has been updated.

If the idea is to start a protest inside Iran then stop blaming a trump you idiots

Trump Posts Tweet in Farsi to Support Iranian Protestors

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Archived Version

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 18:37

Zach Gibson/Getty Images

President Donald Trump, who banned Iranians from coming to the United States the month he assumed the presidency, tweeted out a statement of support for the nation's protestors today.

Trump sent out two tweets supporting ongoing reported protests in Iran following the government admitting it accidentally shot down a passenger plane and killed over 100 civilians.

Both of Trump's tweets had the same message but one was in Persian '' or Farsi '' the predominant language spoken in Iran.

''To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I've stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency,'' Trump claimed

To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I've stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage.

'-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

'-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

Trump also pressed the Iranian government to allow human rights groups to monitor the situation on the ground.

The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests by the Iranian people. There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching.

'-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

During his first month in office, Trump issued an executive order that soon became known as the ''travel ban'' '' which suspended travel from Muslim-majority countries like Iran and Iraq. It followed from Trump calling to ban Muslims from entering the United States during his presidential campaign.

The Trump administration later issued an updated order that bans all Iranian nationals from the United States, unless they are visiting on student visas or on cultural exchange visas. Trump is reportedly considering expanding the travel ban, according to The Associated Press.

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Iran's admission of guilt over plane crash sparks unrest in Tehran | World news | The Guardian

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Archived Version

Sun, 12 Jan 2020 02:30

Iran's embattled regime was shaken by a wave of international condemnation and domestic criticism on Saturday night after admitting its forces shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane with 176 people on board and lied in a bid to cover up its role in the tragedy.

Facing possibly the biggest crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, senior clerical, political and military leaders scrambled to contain the fallout from what President Hassan Rouhani termed a ''disastrous mistake''.

But this latest crisis, coming close on the heels of Donald Trump's assassination of Gen Qassem Suleimani, military clashes with the US in Iraq and nationwide anti-government protests in which hundreds of people have died, appeared to force the regime on to the defensive.

On Saturday night the UK ambassador to Iran, Robert Macaire, was arrested during demonstrations in front of Amir Kabir University in Tehran for ''inciting'' protesters. The Iranian Tasnim news agency said he was released after a few hours.

Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, said: ''The arrest of our ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law.''

Donald Trump, who has said he does not seek ''regime change'' in Iran, expressed his support for the demonstrators, writing: ''We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage.

''The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests by the Iranian people. There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching.''

Iran's military released a statement via the official Irna news agency in the early hours of Saturday admitting the ''unforgivable mistake'' of shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Wednesday.

The mea culpa came after three days of denials from officials in Tehran, who repeatedly dismissed western intelligence reports pointing to Iranian culpability as propaganda amid soaring tensions with the US.

In an unprecedented move, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered an investigation into the hitherto untouchable Islamic revolutionary guard corps (IRGC), whose base outside Tehran launched the missile that downed Flight 752.

A senior IRGC commander, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, confessed publicly that he knew the plane had been shot down almost immediately, and asked for forgiveness. His statement was broadcast on YouTube.

Gen Hajizadeh, the head of the IRGC aerospace division, apologised to the nation on television and said the group took full responsibility, saying he wished ''I could die'' when he heard about the incident.

A missile operator acting alone because of a ''communications breakdown'' had mistaken the Boeing 737 for a cruise missile heading towards a sensitive IRGC site, and only had 10 seconds to decide whether to fire, he said. ''He was obliged to make contact and get verification. But apparently, his communications system had some disruptions. Either the 'jamming' system was the cause or the network was busy,'' he said.

After repeating in interviews the official line that no missiles had been fired in the timeframe that could have caused the crash, Iran's ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, apologised, expressing ''regret for conveying such wrong findings''.

The regime's apologies and promises to punish the culprits did little to staunch a flood of anger. Iranians used social media to vent their fury at being misled, while foreign governments accused Tehran of criminal irresponsibility.

There is mounting anger that the retaliatory strikes launched by Iran on US military bases in Iraq were finely calibrated to ensure no US casualties, but scores of Iranian and Iranian-Canadian passengers were killed by their own forces. Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of people gathering to protest at several universities, where students shouted ''Khamenei is over'' and called his government ''shameless''. In a rare report on the civil unrest, the semi-official Fars news agency said that demonstrators had ripped up pictures of the slain commander Suleimani.

Internationally, Ukraine's government demanded justice for the victims, including compensation. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, tweeted his support for the Iranian people, who he said were ''fed up with the regime's lies, corruption, ineptitude, and brutality''.

Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said he was ''outraged and furious'' and said Iran ''must take full responsiblity'' for the ''horrific'' incident. Trudeau said that Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, had told him in a phone call that Iran was committed to collaborating with Canadian investigators and would work to de-escalate tensions in the region.

Apparently alarmed at the scale of the backlash, state television suggested the tragedy was being used by Iran's enemies to undermine it. But Britain was among several countries suggesting that the admission could pave the way for renewed dialogue.

Boris Johnson said it was an ''important first step'' that ''reinforces the importance of de-escalating tensions in the region.'' The prime minister also echoed his Ukrainian and Canadian counterparts in calling for a ''comprehensive, transparent and independent international investigation'' into the tragedy.

The aircraft was targeted by two surface-to-air missiles three minutes after taking off from an airport on the outskirts of Tehran. It took to the air a few hours after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at US targets in Iraq and the military were braced for possible reprisals.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 57 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians and three Britons.

The Iranian strikes on Iraqi bases last week were in turn retaliation for the US drone strike that killed the al-Quds force leader, Suleimani, in Baghdad on 3 January '' the culmination of a recent series of tit-for-tat attacks that threatened to push Washington and Tehran into war.

Iran's admission was met with some relief by investigators and victims' families, who had initially feared the truth about what happened to the aircraft would be obstructed, as has been the case with the Malaysia Airlines flight downed in Ukraine six years ago.

However, explanations from Iranian officials so far have raised fresh questions about why and how the commercial flight was targeted, and why it took so long for Iran to take responsibility.

Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed the plane following its normal route and travelling at just over 500 kmh '' far slower than a cruise missile. Nine flights had left Tehran's Imam Khomeini international airport that morning before the Ukrainian airliner without encountering trouble.

Air crash experts have raised serious concerns since the accident over the handling of the crash site, including the removal of debris, sparking fears that Tehran has sought to eliminate evidence from the area.

Additional reporting by Leyland Cecco in Toronto.

Facebook 'thought police' censors pro-Iran posts 'to comply with US sanctions''... as Trump warns Tehran against censorship '-- RT USA News

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Archived Version

Sun, 12 Jan 2020 02:50

Facebook has admitted to selectively censoring pro-Iranian government Instagram posts about the murdered General Soleimani, as US President Donald Trump hypocritically championed free speech and warned Tehran against censorship.

Instagram has confirmed that they have been removing posts that voice support for Qassem Soleimani, with a Facebook spokesperson claiming that censorship is fully justified in order to comply with US sanctions. Instagram is one of the few social media platforms that is not blocked in Iran, and it is where many within the country went to fuel outrage over the US assassination strike in Iraq last week.

This is especially disgusting because Instagram is very popular in Iran, where Soleimani has 82% approvalSo Big Tech overlords are basically saying Iranians do not get the right to free speech because of US gov sanctionsThe US empire trumps free speechhttps://t.co/BthPuxgOBC

'-- Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) January 11, 2020The International Federation of Journalists condemned the censorship effort as ''unprecedented in the history of social networks and in conflict with the very innate actuality of media.'' In its letter to Instagram, AoIJ Tehran noted that numerous Iranian state media accounts had been removed and 15 journalists had been censored recently, which goes against and freedom of speech principles.

''These massive Big Tech corporations are Thought Police for the US government: Facebook and Instagram are removing posts expressing support for Iran's top general Soleimani,'' journalist Ben Norton tweeted. ''They say it's to comply with US sanctions, but how do posts violate sanctions?''

Also on rt.com ISIS praises US murder of Iranian general Soleimani as 'divine intervention' that will help them rise again The US government designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization last year, in an unprecedented move against a sovereign nation's military. The IRGC's elite Quds Force, led by Soleimani, was among those forces that turned the tide against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists in Syria. But technically, since Washington considers him a terrorist, Facebook has a convenient excuse to sensor any posts critical of the US extrajudicial assassination strike.

Any support for Soleimani will be taken down by Facebook and Instagram to comply with the USA sanctions but Trump can tweet that Iran should not close down the internet because the world is watching. He wouldn't understand the irony of his tweet. Free speech, censorship anyone?

'-- Jennifer Brierley (@JenniferBrierl2) January 11, 2020While Facebook was acting as 'thought police' on behalf of the US government, Washington has been championing free speech and warning Tehran against restricting the Iranian people's internet access. US President Donald Trump personally addressed the anti-government protesters '' in Farsi, mind you '' reassuring them of his unwavering support.

Also on rt.com 'Your courage is inspiring!' Trump tweets in FARSI, backing Iranian protesters against Tehran govt Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Iran: Journalists demand end to censorship of Iranian media on Instagram - IFJ

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Sun, 12 Jan 2020 02:51

Following the assassination of a high-ranking officer of the Islamic Republic of Iran, posts by Iranian media on Instagram related to his killing, have been deleted by the company. The deleted content includes posts by Iranian media and individual users. The Association of Iranian Journalists in Tehran has written to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri urging the company stop the censorship of Iranian media.

In the days following the assassination of Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani, Instagram has deleted posts and blocked some Iranian users and Iranian media. Posts mentioning Soleimani, both in pictures and in text, have been removed. Individual journalists have also experienced censorship - at least fifteen journalists have reported their profile being suspended. Some profiles have been restored, but posts containing information about Soleimani were deleted permanently.

The measures have gone even further, and some accounts of Iranian newspapers and news agencies have now been removed from the social media platform. This poses an immediate threat to freedom of information in Iran, as Instagram is the only international social media platform currently still operating in the country.

Media outlets in Farsi, operating from abroad, and other foreign media have not been hit with these restrictive measures.

In its letter to Instagram the AoIJ Teheran dubbed the move as "unprecedented in the history of social networks and in conflict with the very innate actuality of media" and said the action goes "against global standard principles including freedom of speech and media and therefore demands immediate correction of such measures".

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "At a time when Iranian citizens need access to information it is unacceptable that Instagram should choose to censor Iranian media and individual journalists and users".

Iranian protesters in Tehran turn against regime after military admits shooting down plane | Daily Mail Online

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Archived Version

Sun, 12 Jan 2020 07:02

Iranians have gathered in the streets of Tehran to demand the resignation of Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei after the regime admitted it had mistakenly shot down a civilian passenger plane.

Angry crowds gathered on Saturday night in at least four locations in Tehran, chanting 'death to liars' and calling for the country's supreme leader to step down over the tragic military blunder, video from the scene shows.

What began as mournful vigils for Iranian lives lost on the flight soon turned to outrage and protest against the regime, and riot police quickly cracked down, firing tear gas into the crowd.

'Death to the Islamic Republic' protesters chanted, as the regime's security forces allegedly used ambulances to sneak heavily armed paramilitary police into the middle of crowds to disperse the demonstration.

Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 was carrying 176 people, at least 130 of them Iranian citizens, when it was shot down by hapless Iranian Revolutionary Guard air defense forces shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8.

Iranians protest against the government after a vigil held for the victims of Flight 752 turned into an anti-government demonstrations outside Amirkabir University in Tehran, Iran

Protesters outside Amirkabir University in Tehran demanded the Ayatollah's resignation over the military disaster

Thousands gather outside Amir Kabir University on Saturday screaming 'Death to the Dictator'

Iranians shout slogans against the government in protests in Tehran Saturday night

Iran for days claimed that a technical failure caused the crash, before admitting on Saturday that its own surface-to-air missiles brought the plane down.

Iran was on high alert at the time, hours after launching ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq in a strike that caused no casualties. That missile strike was in retaliation for a U.S. operation that killed powerful Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

After Iran's admission, however, Canada's prime minister appeared to cast doubt on the claim that the shoot-down was an accident, suggesting there may have been an Iranian motive for the disaster. Many passengers were dual Canadian citizens.

On Saturday afternoon, candlelight vigils at universities in Tehran for the victims of Flight 752 began to turn to protests against the regime. Large protests were reported at the universities of Tehran, Sharif Industrial, Amir Kabir, and Allameh.

At Amirkabir University, protesters chanted 'Down with the dictator' and 'shame on IRGC [Revolutionary Guard], let the country go.'

At Sharif University, crowds of outraged Iranians chanted 'commander in chief, resign!' The Ayatollah is Iran's commander in chief.

'Our enemy is right here; they lie when they say it's the US' protesters were heard chanting in one video.

'I now believe the word of the Great Satan,' one protester wrote in Persian on Twitter, apparently referring to the U.S. intelligence reports that blamed Iran for shooting the plane down, which the regime furiously denied at first.

A picture is seen on Saturday next to candles lit by people and families of the victims of the crash of Flight 752

Riot police with shields and batons massed to disrupt the anti-government protests on Saturday night

The regime quickly cracked down on the protests with tear gas and water cannons

Screams were heard as regime forces fired tear gas at the protesters in a brutal crackdown after night fell

A woman gestures during a protest against the government outside Amirkabir University in Tehran, Iran on Saturday

Iranians shout slogans against the government after a vigil held for the victims of the airplane of Ukrainian International Airlines that crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport turned into an anti-government protest outside Amirkabir University

Protesters demanded that those responsible for shooting down the civilian plane be publicly tried and held accountable.

The crowd also condemned the Islamic Republic's paramilitary internal security force, chanting 'Death to Basij.'

As night fell, riot police attempted to break up the protests with tear gas.

Cops armed with shields and batons tried to disperse the crowds, and police fired water canons at protesters.

Anti-regime factions said that the protests reflected the frustrations of Iranian citizens with the government corruption and oppression.

'The protest by thousands of Iranians in Tehran burst the propaganda balloon of the regime regarding Qassem Soleimani's elimination,' said Shahin Gobadi, spokesman of the anti-regime group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, in a statement to DailyMail.com.

Gobadi said that the protests 'showed the true sentiments of the Iranians and once again clearly proved that Iran is a powder keg and the Iranian people will not stop until the regime change.'

Iranians light candles and hang flowers for victims of Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 during a protest in front of the Amir Kabir University. What began as a vigil for the dead turned to anti-government protests

Iranians protest against the government outside Amirkabir University in Tehran, Iran on Saturday

People gather for a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Ukraine plane crash, at the gate of Amri Kabir University that some of the victims of the crash were former students of, in Tehran, Iran on Saturday

At Amirkabir University, protesters chanted 'Down with the dictator' and 'shame on [Revolutionary Guard], let the country go'

Iranian Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, the Guards' aerospace commander, said on Saturday a surface-to-air missile operator had mistaken the Boeing 737 for a U.S. cruise missile responding to Iranian ballistic missile attacks, and only had ten seconds to decide whether or not to open fire.

'I wish I had died, and I wouldn't have seen such an incident,' Hajizadeh said somberly at a press conference. He claimed that a 'request had been made to clear the sky from civil flights at that time, but it did not happen due to reservations.'

For days, Iran vehemently denied that it was responsible for downing Flight 752 from Tehran to Kyiv on January 8, accusing the U.S. of spreading malicious propaganda and lies for suggesting such a scenario.

Hajizadeh claimed that the country's top military leaders were not initially aware that their own air defense system had shot the plan down, leading to confusion. Now the country has come clean, but still blames 'US adventurism' for the fatal 'error'.

'The delay in releasing information was not aimed at hiding the issue but it is the routine drill that the General Staff should study the case (first); and all information was collected on Friday morning after studies and what had happened became clear then,' Hajizadeh said.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani extended condolences to the families of those killed in the incident, and promised that those responsible would be prosecuted.

'The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake... My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences,' Rouhani said in a statement on Saturday.

'I wish I had died, and I wouldn't have seen such an incident,' said a somber Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, the Guards' aerospace commander, at a press conference. Iran admitted that it shot down Flight 752, thinking the plane was a missile

Ukraine International Airlines' Boeing 737-800 plane wreckage is seen in a picture from investigation team released today

Rescue workers at the crash site recovered the bodies of victims on Wednesday (above)

He said that 'the terrible catastrophe should be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible for this unforgivable mistake will definitely be identified and prosecuted'.

But the country's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said 'US adventurism' was to blame for Iran shooting down the plane, a week after an American drone killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

Zarif wrote: 'A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.

'Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.'

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei also offered condolences to the families, as he called for an investigation and ordered the military to address 'shortcomings' on Saturday morning.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cast doubt on Iran 's claim that it accidentally shot down the Ukrainian jet.

Trudeau said the shoot-down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 'is one of the issues that we certainly need better answers to,' during a news conference on Saturday.

'I am, of course, outraged and furious,' Trudeau said of the crash, adding that whether the tragedy was an accident or not still needs to be determined.

Iraqi PM Claims Trump Threatened False Flag Attacks on Protesters if He Didn't Accept Oil Deal '' Summit News

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Archived Version

Sun, 12 Jan 2020 09:55

World at War Suggests Soleimani was not a terrorist.

Time Magazine offered a handy guide on how parents can brainwash their kids on Iran by disputing the fact that Qasem Soleimani was a terrorist.

The guide, entitled 'How to Talk to Your Kids About the Situation With Iran', promises to ''arm you with the information you need if you choose to bring up the topic or if kids ask questions about it.''

That ''information'' consists of watering down the fact that Soleimani had overseen atrocities that led to the deaths of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian citizens as well as the slaughter of over 600 U.S. troops.

Trump has called Soleimani a terrorist. '... Trump says Soleimani ordered [recent] attacks.

U.S. military leaders gave Trump several choices for how to respond to Iran's actions. Killing Soleimani was considered the most extreme. Some top U.S. military and government officials have expressed surprise and concern about Trump's decision.

Note how Time says, ''Trump has called Soleimani a terrorist,'' to subtly dispute the fact he was a terrorist, despite Soleimani being sanctioned and designated as a terrorist supporter by the U.S. back in 2007, more than nine years before Trump took office.

Also note how the article reads not so much as a guide on how parents can talk to their kids, but as a propaganda piece directed at adult readers who Time thinks have the mental capacity of children.

''Here's my own handy guide on how to talk to your kids about Time Magazine'...,'' comments the Moonbattery blog.

''Tell them it is run by moonbats, who will side with any enemy against their own country, including terrorist maniacs who want to kill them. Tell them that like the rest of the liberal media, it consists of pernicious spin and vicious lies.''

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World at War Photos ''show obvious projectile holes in the fuselage and a wing section.''

Experts say that the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed in Tehran early this morning was likely shot down.

The aircraft plunged out of the sky shortly after take off, killing all 167 passengers and nine crew. The majority of passengers were from Iran and Canada.

The timing of the crash, coming just hours after Iran fired missiles towards U.S. bases in Iraq, immediately prompted speculation that the plane had been accidentally shot down.

That premise is shared by experts from the OPS group, an aviation risk monitoring organization, who noted that pictures of the plane debris show holes in the plane's fuselage and wing.

''We would recommend the starting assumption to be that this was a shootdown event, similar to MH17 '' until there is clear evidence to the contrary,'' said the group in a statement, adding that the photos ''show obvious projectile holes in the fuselage and a wing section.''

This looks like shrapnel damage on the Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, which went down near Tehran tonight. Pictures 2 and 3 show shrapnel damage on MH17, shot down by an SA-11 Buk surface-to-air missile in 2014. (via @Kaitain_AZ ) pic.twitter.com/z5J5ZIf0Rm

'-- Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 8, 2020

Iranian officials claimed that the pilots lost control of the plane after a fire in one of the aircraft's engines, an explanation that has largely been echoed by the mainstream media without question.

''Doesn't it seem far more likely that a misfiring of Iran's defense system might have brought down the plane?'' asks Zero Hedge.

As we reported earlier, Iran has refused to hand over black box data which could determine precisely what happened.

According to the company, the Boeing 737-800 was was of their best planes in the fleet, was ''in excellent condition'' and had undergone scheduled maintenance just two days before the crash.

All evidence, including video, points to PS752 being shot down by a surface-to-air missile, burning up in mid air and falling to the ground. There's extensive damage on the plane that could've only been caused by shrapnel from a mid-air detonation. pic.twitter.com/TpsfUeM0u8

'-- Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 8, 2020

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World at War Proving that the attack was merely to save face.

Iraq says that it was warned by Iran about last night's missile attack and that this warning was passed on to the U.S., suggesting that the attack was merely a face saving effort by Tehran.

''Iraq's prime minister's office said on Wednesday it had received ''an official verbal message'' from Iran informing it that a missile attack on US forces stationed on Iraqi soil was imminent,'' reported Pakistan's Dawn News.

According to war correspondent Elijah J. Magnier, Iran told Iraq that it would only target areas of bases under U.S. control.

''Abdel Mahdi warned the Americans who took their precautions before the attack,'' commented Magnier.

#Iran told #Iraq PM Adel Abdil Mahdi it will bomb only the part of the bases under #US control, which it did.

The bombing left no Iraqi casualties.

'-- Elijah J. Magnier (@ejmalrai) January 8, 2020

''Tehran told Washington DC through proxies that it will bomb US bases in Iraq to save face and claim it is a response for killing Soleimani,'' another Middle Eastern journalist tweeted. ''That's why the USA emptied its bases hours before the attacks. Zero casualties.''

This is being repeated a lot by Middle East journalists: ''Tehran told Washington DC through proxies that it will bomb US bases in Iraq to save face and claim it is a response for killing Soleimani. That's why the USA emptied its bases hours before the attacks. Zero casualties.'' pic.twitter.com/rAQj9lLAOY

'-- Imam of Peace / Pray for Peace'... (@Imamofpeace) January 8, 2020

''Iran warned Iraq by telling them exactly where they'd attack before they fired any missiles last night,'' commented Robby Starbuck. ''They knew Iraq would in turn warn the United States. The attack was strictly for propaganda purposes. Reality: Iran backed down after the US killed the most evil man in Iran.''

Iran warned Iraq by telling them exactly where they'd attack before they fired any missiles last night. They knew Iraq would in turn warn the United States.

The attack was strictly for propaganda purposes.

Reality: Iran backed down after the US killed the most evil man in Iran.

'-- Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 8, 2020

Earlier during his address to the nation, President Trump called for Iran and the U.S. to work together to defeat ISIS and said the U.S. was ready to ''embrace peace.''

Iran's attack, which caused zero casualties, was clearly a face saving effort and an attempt to avoid escalation.

Now Trump has sent a powerful deterrence message by killing Qassem Soleiman, safe in the knowledge that Iran will do little in return.

People on both the left and the anti-Trump right having hysterical panic attacks over ''World War 3'' have been embarrassed yet again.

Al Asad Runway looks completely undamaged and therefore operational

Missiles accurately hit aircraft hangers https://t.co/ueLIIaghmH

'-- M¬cha¨l D¨ La BroÄ (@MDeLaBroc1) January 8, 2020

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Former California grid director says the state's power system is ready to take on any hacks from Iran - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Sat, 11 Jan 2020 09:32

The electrical grid may likely represent a prime target after Iran has vowed ''crushing revenge'' on the United States following a drone strike that killed its top general, Qassem Soleimani.

But the former director of the organization that oversees the power system for the bulk California says he's not overly worried about a major disruption.

''We spend a lot of time, money and energy to harden the system so this doesn't happen,'' said Jim McIntosh, who was director of grid operations from 2000 to 2009 at the California Independent System Operator. ''And the system is broken up into a lot of pieces. We can isolate areas very readily and keep control of the system. So it's a very difficult task to take the grid down '-- very difficult.''

Based in Folsom, the California ISO manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage and long-distance power lines that make up 80 percent of California's grid, as well as a small part of Nevada's power system. The ISO not only balances the flow of electricity in the state but also makes power purchases to match demand and avoid power outages.

''I would say we are adequately protected against anything Iran has done in the past and could do at this point,'' said McIntosh, who spent 13 years at the ISO. ''They have proven over time that they can't break through the firewalls'' put in place to protect the system.

Critical infrastructure such as the power grid has come under more intense focus since tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated.

On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an updated threat bulletin that warned ''Iran maintains a robust cyber program'' and ''is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States.''

But attempts to disrupt California's power grid are not new.

Last summer, the manager in charge of ensuring the state's power system remains safe from cyberattacks told the Union-Tribune the ISO fends off ''several millions'' of hacking attempts each month.

The control room of the California Independent System Operator in Folsom.

(Photo from California ISO)

Spokeswoman Vonette Fontaine said in a statement the California ISO's systems ''have not experienced any major cyber incidents'' since the Iranian government promised to retaliate and the ISO coordinates ''diligently and proactively with federal and state law enforcement agencies to stay in front of potential issues.''

Fontaine would not say whether the ISO has stepped up its efforts in recent days to prevent any potential attacks on its information technology systems or physical assets.

Similarly, a spokeswoman for San Diego Gas & Electric did not go into specifics.

''We are aware of the recent events involving Iran and the heightened concerns of a cybersecurity threat,'' said SDG&E communications manager Sara Prince in an email. ''Our cyber and physical security operations teams are in routine contact with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to stay informed about the latest potential threats and respond quickly to evolving situations.''

McIntosh said unless a specific threat shows up, ''I don't think (the state's investor-owned utilities) would be doing much more than they always do ... They have a large group of folks that watch this stuff on a daily basis and would be able to protect their systems. (Southern California) Edison, San Diego (Gas & Electric) and (Pacific Gas & Electric) each have staffs that do this for a living, all the time.''

At the same time, McIntosh recalled how the ISO had to interrupt electrical loads 13 times during the California energy crisis in 2000 and 2001 that led to rolling blackouts across the state.

''One of the things that people realized real quick was that if you don't have energy, things go downhill rapidly,'' McIntosh said in a telephone interview. ''So if anybody would go and successfully knock out the grid, it would create havoc for California.''

in 2013, snipers opened fire at a PG&E substation in San Jose and knocked out 17 transformers that supplied electricity to the Silicon Valley. Grid officials avoided a blackout by rerouting power but as the Wall Street Journal reported, it took 27 days to make the necessary repairs to bring the substation back online. No arrests have every been made.

McIntosh said utilities have increased security at physical sites since then.

''They used to concentrate on 'inside the fence' and now they actually look out and have the same type of ground detection movement (technology) that (the government has) put on the border, so that anybody approaching is detected and alarms go off,'' McIntosh said. ''They've spent millions and millions of dollars.''

Nationally, the energy sector has become a prime target for cyberattacks in the past decade, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy detailing its multiyear security plans.

Energy infrastructure and sites experienced more cyber incidents than any other sector between 2013 and 2015, accounting for 35 percent of the 796 incidents reported by sectors accounting for critical infrastructure, according to the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team at the Department of Homeland Security.

Attempts to penetrate the U.S. grid have been attributed to Russia and China, and hackers from Iran also targeted at least one an American billionaire who is politically active.

In October 2013, casino magnate and conservative political donor Sheldon Adelson said while appearing on a panel in New York that the U.S. could counter Iran's nuclear ambitions by exploding a warhead in a deserted area of the country.

The comments enraged Iran's Supreme Leader and four months later, hackers disabled the IT systems of one of Adelson's casinos in Las Vegas and caused $40 million in damages. U.S. intelligence officials traced the attack to Iran.

"I'd Like To See Them Call Me": How Trump Used An Encrypted Swiss Fax Machine To Defuse The Iran Crisis | Zero Hedge

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Sat, 11 Jan 2020 10:07

Even as Trump was rage-tweeting on Jan 4, two days after the killing of Iran's top military leader Qassem Soleimani, that he would hit 52 targets including Iranian heritage sites for potential retaliation if America suffered losses following an Iranian attack, warning that "those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD", the US president was busy, secretly using an encrypted back-channel to bring the world back from the brink of war.

As the WSJ reports, just hours after the U.S. strike which killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Trump administration sent an urgent back channel message to Tehran: "Don't escalate." The encrypted fax message was sent via the Swiss Embassy in Iran, one of the few means of direct, confidential communication between the two sides, U.S. officials told the WSJ. Then, in frantic attempts to de-escalate even as top US and Iranian leaders were stirring patriotic sentiment and nationalistic fervor, the White House and Iranian leaders exchanged further messages in the days that followed, which officials in both countries described as far more measured than the fiery rhetoric traded publicly by politicians.

The Swiss ambassador to Iran, Markus Leitner, here with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in 2017, helped shuttle messages between the U.S. and Iran. Photo: Swiss embassy.It worked: a week later, and after a retaliatory, if highly theatrical, Iranian missile attack on two military bases hosting American troops that purposefully inflicted no casualties, Washington and Tehran have stepped back from the brink of open hostilities (for now).

"We don't communicate with the Iranians that much, but when we do the Swiss have played a critical role to convey messages and avoid miscalculation," a senior U.S. official said.

While a spokesman at Iran's mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the exchanges, he said "we appreciate [the Swiss] for any efforts they make to provide an efficient channel to exchange letters when and if necessary." Another Iranian official said the back channel provided a welcome bridge, when all others had been burned: "In the desert, even a drop of water matters."

In retrospect, it should hardly be a surprise that the perpetually neutral Swiss were the last recourse to prevent potential war.

As the WSJ notes, from the Swiss Embassy, a Shah-era mansion overlooking Tehran, the country's role as a diplomatic intermediary has stretched through four turbulent decades and seven presidencies, from the hostage crisis under Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama's nuclear deal. But it was seldom tested like this.

Here's how it happened.

The first American fax was sent immediately after Washington confirmed the death of Soleimani, the most important figure in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the U.S. officials said. It arrived on a special encrypted fax machine in a sealed room of the Swiss mission - the most enduring, and secret, method since the 1979 Islamic Revolution - for the White House to exchange messages with Iran's top leadership, especially when the two nations are concurrently parading in public media in their bellicose propaganda to earn political brownie points.

The equipment operates on a secure Swiss government network linking its Tehran embassy to the Foreign Ministry in Bern and its embassy in Washington, say Swiss diplomats. Only the most senior officials have the key cards needed to use the equipment.

Early on Friday morning, just hours after Soleimani's death, Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner, a 53-year-old career diplomat, delivered the American message by hand to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Predictably, Zarif responded to the U.S. missive with anger, according to a WSJ source: "[U.S. Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo is a bully,'' he said, according to one U.S. official briefed on Zarif's response. ''The U.S. is the cause of all the problems."

The US may indeed be the cause of all the problems, but it also has all the weapons, and despite the pompous rhetoric, Iran knew full well it could not hope to escalte in tit-for-tat fashion without risking virtually everything. Which is why, Iran was quick to take advantage of Leitner's mediation.

The Swiss ambassador - who regularly visits Washington for closed-door sessions with Pentagon, State Department and intelligence officials eager to tap his knowledge about Iran's opaque and fluid politics - spent the next several days after Soleimani's killing shuttling back and forth in a low-key but high-wire diplomatic mission designed to let each side speak candidly. It was a vivid contrast to the jabs of President Trump and Mr. Zarif on Twitter.

Shortly after Trump tweeted on Jan 4 that the US had picked 52 Iranian targets for eventual escalation, Zarif responded just as belligerently on the next day: "A reminder to those hallucinating about emulating ISIS war crimes by targeting our cultural heritage," he wrote. "Through MILLENNIA of history, barbarians have come and ravaged our cities, razed our monuments and burnt our libraries. Where are they now? We're still here, & standing tall."

However, at the same time as Zarif was seeking to emulate Trump's twitter bluster, the Iranian foreign minister called the Swiss ambassador to take a message to the U.S. It was more restrained, and subsequent statements from both sides helped prevent miscalculations, the officials said.

''When tensions with Iran were high, the Swiss played a useful and reliable role that both sides appreciated,'' said a senior Trump administration official. "Their system is like a light that never turns off." Unlike Twitter, that is, which has emerged a medium for spreading premeditated, fake, outrage to mass consumption and whose sole purpose is to distract from what is truly happening behind the scenes.

It's not the first time the Swiss have helped pull back the middle east from the brink of mushroom clouds: they have served as messengers between Washington and Tehran since 1980, in the wake of the seizure of the American Embassy'--and 52 hostages '--in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries. Swiss diplomats call the role the ''brieftrager'' or ''the postman.''

In the years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Swiss shepherded messages to help avoid direct clashes. When President Obama assumed office, Switzerland hosted the talks that led to a nuclear deal. When Washington lifted sanctions, Swiss businesses had an early jump on rivals. When Trump reimposed sanctions, he gave the Swiss a phone number to pass the Iranians, saying: ''I'd like to see them call me.''

So far, Tehran has continued to speak through the Swiss.

* * *

Why has this archaic method of communication proven so effective at pulling the world back from the edge of crisis?

Former Swiss ambassadors say the diplomatic channel is effective because the U.S. and Iran can trust a message will remain confidential, be delivered quickly, and will reach only its intended recipients. Statements passed on the back channel are always precisely phrased, diplomatic, and free of emotion, something which is clearly impossible on Trump's favorite social media platform, twitter, which he uses for precisely the opposite purpose: to spark outrage and to appeal to base emotions of his core supporter group.

Switzerland, a landlocked country of nine million with no standing army where everyone owns a gun, parlays its role as the world's neutral "postman" (and until recently, secret banker) to lever access to the great powers.

And speaking of Swiss bank, the WSJ notes that currently Swiss diplomats are working to get Washington's green light for Swiss banks to finance exports to Iran that aren't subject to sanctions'--like food and medicine. "We do things for the world community, and it's good," said a former ambassador. ''But it is also good for our interests." Of course it is: for the privilege of funding the most basic human needs, those same Swiss banks can charge exorbitant rates of interest in a country that for years has had a negative official interest rate.

Iran isn't the only geopolitical hot spot where the Swiss Embassy represents U.S. or other countries' interests after the breakdown of diplomatic relations: the Swiss now holds six mandates including representing Iran in Saudi Arabia, Georgia in Russia and Turkey in Libya and the U.S. in Cuba according to the WSJ. In April 2019, the Trump administration asked Bern to represent it in Venezuela but President Nicols Maduro's government has yet to approve.

And so, if the world has any hope of avoiding an all out war between US and Iran, it will have to go through Bern, at least figuratively. As tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated, the Swiss backchannel has remained active. In December the two countries released prisoners at the same time at a special hangar in the Zurich airport - U.S. special envoy on Iran Brian Hook and Iran's Zarif sat in separate rooms as the Swiss directed the carefully choreographed exchange.

"The Swiss channel has become enormously important because of what they can do in the short term to lessen tensions,'' said former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who worked with the Swiss on the prisoner exchange. ''It's the only viable channel right now."

British ambassador arrested at Tehran demonstration | World news | The Guardian

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Sun, 12 Jan 2020 02:30

UK foreign secretary calls action against Robert Macaire a 'flagrant violation' of international law

Iranian demonstrators show their sympathy with the plane crash victims outside the Amir Kabir University on Saturday.Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPADominic Raab has warned Iran it risks becoming an international ''pariah'' after the British ambassador was arrested during anti-government protests in Tehran.

The foreign secretary said the detention of Rob Macaire, without any grounds or explanation, was a ''flagrant violation'' of international law. He said Tehran was at a crossroads, with the prospect of continuing political and economic isolation unless it engages diplomatically with the west.

Macaire was said to be ''safe and well'' in the British embassy after he was released after more than an hour in custody. His arrest came as a wave of anti-government demonstrations broke out across the country following the admission Iranian forces had accidentally brought down a Ukrainian airliner killing all 176 people on board.

It is understood that the ambassador had been attending what had been billed as a vigil for the victims of the crash at the Amir Kabir University. However the event quickly turned into an anti-government protest at which point he was said to have left.

UK/US troop numbers in the Middle EastAccording to Iran's Tasnim news agency, as he tried to make his way back to the embassy he was one of the people arrested outside the university on suspicion of organising, provoking and directing radical actions. It is unclear who he was arrested by.

In a statement, Raab said: ''The arrest of our ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law.

''The Iranian government is at a crossroads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails, or take steps to de-escalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards.''

The incident threatened to reignite tensions in the region just as they appeared to be easing.

Raab's intervention came after the Iranians admitted they had brought down the Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board, in a ''disastrous mistake''.

The crash happened hours after Iran launched a series of ballistic missile strikes on US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of its top commander, Gen Qassem Suleimani, by an American drone.

The missile strikes failed to cause any casualties and the US president, Donald Trump, indicated he would respond by tightening sanctions rather than with further military action.

Jet Crash in Iran Has Eerie Historical Parallel - The New York Times

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Sun, 12 Jan 2020 02:44

Middle East | Jet Crash in Iran Has Eerie Historical ParallelThe United States accidentally downed an Iranian passenger jet in 1988, killing all 290 people aboard, amid a battle with Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf.

Mourners carried coffins through the streets of Tehran during a mass funeral for the victims aboard Iran Air Flight 655, which was shot down by the U.S.S. Vincennes in the Persian Gulf in 1988. Credit... Canadian Press, via Associated Press The timing of the jet crash near Tehran on Wednesday '-- coming just hours after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American troops '-- immediately led to suspicion that the plane had been downed by a missile.

Those suspicions were confirmed on Saturday, when Iranian officials accepted responsibility for the downing of the jet, a Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukraine International Airlines, saying it was an accident caused by human error. The 176 victims included many young Iranians, as well as Canadians, Afghans and Europeans from several countries.

Many observers couldn't help thinking of a strikingly similar plane crash in Iranian territory amid hostilities, more than 30 years ago, in the waning days of the Iran-Iraq war.

On July 3, 1988, as American and Iranian forces battled in the Persian Gulf, the United States Navy accidentally shot down an Iranian passenger jet, Iran Air Flight 655, which was bound for Dubai. Iranian outlets reported that 290 people were aboard the plane, including 66 children. There were no survivors.

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran referred to that tragedy on Monday as he responded to a threat from President Trump to attack cultural sites.

Last Saturday, Mr. Trump said on Twitter that his office had made a list of 52 Iranian sites '-- representing the 52 hostages taken by Iran in 1979 '-- that would be ''HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD'' in the event of an Iranian attack.

In response, Mr. Rouhani wrote, ''Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290.''

Iran Air Flight 655, which Mr. Rouhani invoked with the hashtag #IR655, had set out for Dubai from the port city of Bandar Abbas, on the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf. At the same time on that July morning, the Vincennes, an American missile cruiser, was engaged in combat with Iranian boats in the gulf.

The Navy said later that it mistook the passenger plane, an Airbus A300, for a hostile F-14 fighter jet. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., said that the Iranian plane was flying at low altitude and failed to respond to warnings or transmit radar signals identifying it as a civilian plane. The plane was brought down with a surface-to-air missile.

President Ronald Reagan issued a statement from Camp David, saying the United States regretted the loss of life but defending the judgment of the skipper, Capt. Will C. Rogers III. A subsequent Defense Department investigation also supported his actions, though it noted he was given inaccurate information as the plane approached. The investigators also faulted Iran for allowing the plane to fly into an active conflict zone.

In a strange twist, the following March, Captain Rogers's wife, Sharon Lee Rogers, was driving near a shopping center in San Diego when what was believed to be a pipe bomb exploded in her car. She escaped uninjured. Investigators initially believed it was an act of terrorism related to Captain Rogers's role in the deaths, but later ''all but ruled out'' the possibility, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Captain Rogers was later awarded the Legion of Merit for his service in the Persian Gulf; an accompanying citation praised the captain's ''dynamic leadership'' and ''logical judgment.''

A December 1988 report by an international panel of aviation experts faulted the Navy for failing to put in place procedures to keep civilian aircraft away from combat zones. The United States later paid millions to settle a lawsuit that Iran filed over the matter at the International Court of Justice.

Professor Fired After Joking That Iran Should Pick U.S. Sites to Bomb - The New York Times

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Sun, 12 Jan 2020 03:12

U.S. | Professor Fired After Joking That Iran Should Pick U.S. Sites to BombAsheen Phansey said he regretted his ''bad attempt at humor'' and had hoped the college would have defended his right to free speech.

Asheen Phansey said he was ''disappointed'' and ''saddened'' by Babson College's decision to fire him ''just because people willfully misinterpreted a joke I made to friends on Facebook.'' Credit... Joanne Rathe/The Boston Globe, via Getty Images In a case that has stirred debate about free speech on college campuses, an adjunct professor at a Massachusetts college was fired on Thursday after posting on Facebook what he described as a joke suggesting that Iran pick sites in the United States to bomb.

The professor, Asheen Phansey, wrote on his personal Facebook page on Jan. 5 that Iran's supreme leader should ''tweet a list of 52 sites of beloved American cultural heritage that he would bomb,'' suggesting the Mall of America in Minnesota and a Kardashian residence as targets, Judy Rakowsky, a spokeswoman for Mr. Phansey, said on Saturday.

The post was a response to President Trump's comments that he would target Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliated against the United States for killing one of its top generals. The Pentagon later ruled out striking Iranian cultural sites because of ''the laws of armed conflict.''

Mr. Phansey deleted his post, but not before it was captured in a screengrab and circulated on social media with the school's phone number.

''Why does @Babson 'College' have an America-hating terrorist supporter on their payroll. Ask them!'' said one widely shared tweet.

Mr. Phansey received a master's degree in business administration in 2008 from Babson College, a private business school in Wellesley, Mass., near Boston, that has a student population of about 3,000. He became an adjunct professor at the school that year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Babson soon learned of Mr. Phansey's remarks and suspended him.

Image Asheen PhanseyBabson said in statement on Wednesday that it condemned ''any type of threatening words'' and ''actions condoning violence.''

''This particular post from a staff member on his personal Facebook page clearly does not represent the values and culture of Babson College,'' it said.

After his suspension, Mr. Phansey said in a statement that he regretted his ''bad attempt at humor.''

''As an American, born and raised, I was trying to juxtapose our 'cultural sites' with ancient Iranian churches and mosques,'' he said, adding that he was opposed to violence. ''I am sorry that my sloppy humor was read as a threat.''

The next day, the school announced it had fired Mr. Phansey. ''Based on the results of the investigation, the staff member is no longer a Babson College employee,'' the school said.

In a subsequent statement, Mr. Phansey said he was ''disappointed'' and ''saddened'' by the decision to fire him ''just because people willfully misinterpreted a joke I made to friends on Facebook.''

''I would have hoped that Babson, an institution of higher education that I love and to which I have given a great deal, would have defended and supported my right to free speech,'' he said. ''Beyond my own situation, I am really concerned about what this portends for our ability as Americans to engage in political discourse without presuming the worst about each other.''

Babson declined to comment on Saturday.

Mr. Phansey's lawyer, Jeffrey Pyle, said on Saturday that the school's actions sent a ''chilling'' message to academics and staff members at schools everywhere.

''It's a terribly tragic situation for a comment, that was obviously a joke, to have resulted in everything that's occurred,'' he said.

Mr. Pyle said the pretext for Mr. Phansey's firing ''is that he violated a social media policy that prohibits threats of violence'' and that it could not have been ''reasonably read'' as a threat.

''I say that it was a pretext because they fired him in order to stop the criticism on social media,'' Mr. Pyle said.

Some of the uproar about Mr. Phansey's post was also ''racially intolerant,'' Mr. Pyle said.

''I saw a number of messages saying Asheen should be deported as well as prosecuted and fired. Asheen was born in the United States, he is of South Asian origin,'' he said, adding that some assumed his client was Iranian or from the Middle East. ''I think that makes it doubly unfortunate that Babson couldn't defend him when some of the vitriol thrown his way was of that nature.''

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which defends the rights of students and faculty members at colleges and universities, said in a statement on Saturday that Mr. Phansey's post was ''obvious rhetorical hyperbole.''

''Babson's process-free termination in an attempt to quell criticism on social media is censorship, plain and simple, and reveals Babson's stated commitment to freedom of expression to be worthless,'' it said.

In recent years, colleges and universities have grappled with where to draw the line on free speech. The University of Wisconsin adopted a three-strikes policy in which any student found to have disrupted the free expressions of others would be expelled after a third infraction. Indiana University Bloomington faced a different problem last fall after a professor's viewpoints were described as racist, sexist and homophobic, but the administration said it could not fire him because of the First Amendment.

Britain's ambassador to Iran is ARRESTED after photographing protesters in Tehran clash | Daily Mail Online

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Sun, 12 Jan 2020 06:28

The Foreign Office has hit out at Iran for a 'flagrant violation of international law' after the UK ambassador to the country was arrested during a protest in the capital Tehran.

Diplomat Rob Macaire was present during demonstrations against Ayatollah Khamenei in front of Tehran's Amir Kabir University and was arrested after allegedly 'organising, provoking and directing radical actions', according to local reports.

Thousands had gathered to demand the supreme leader's resignation after his regime admitted it had mistakenly shot down a civilian passenger plane during retaliation against the US' assassination of Qasem Soleimani.

Mr Macaire, a diplomat with 30 years experience, was released following more than an hour in detention.

In a strongly worded statement, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned Iran that it needed to make a choice between becoming a 'pariah' state or to 'deescalate tensions' with the west.

'The arrest of our Ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law. The Iranian government is at a cross-roads moment,' said Mr Raab.

The UK ambassador to Iran Rob Macaire was arrested earlier this evening during violent protests in Tehran in response to Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei's regime admitting it had mistakenly shot down a civilian passenger plane

Following a more than an hour in detention, Mr Macaire was then released. MailOnline have contacted the Foreign Office for comment but they were unable to provide a comment

Iranians protest against the government after a vigil held for the victims of Flight 752 turned into an anti-government protest outside Amirkabir University in Tehran, Iran

'It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails, or take steps to deescalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards.'

Mr Macaire was appointed to the Ambassador role in April 2018, replacing Nicholas Hopton.

Angry crowds gathered in at least four locations across Tehran tonight, chanting 'death to liars' and calling for the country's supreme leader to step down over the tragic military blunder, video from the scene shows.

What began as mournful vigils for Iranian lives lost on the flight soon turned to outrage and protest against the regime, and riot police quickly cracked down, firing tear gas into the crowd.

President Donald Trump tonight tweeted his support for the Iranian protestors, writing in Farsi that his administration would 'stand by them' as they protested against the country's leadership.

'To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I've stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage.'

Protesters outside Amirkabir University in Tehran demanded the Ayatollah's resignation over the military disaster

Thousands gather outside Amir Kabir University on Saturday screaming 'Death to the Dictator'

Iranians shout slogans against the government in protests in Tehran Saturday night

Iran for days claimed that a technical failure caused the crash, before admitting on Saturday that its own surface-to-air missiles brought the plane down.

At Amirkabir University, protesters chanted 'Down with the dictator' and 'shame on IRGC [Revolutionary Guard], let the country go.'

At Sharif University, crowds of outraged Iranians chanted 'commander in chief, resign!' The Ayatollah is Iran's commander in chief.

'Our enemy is right here; They lie when they say it's the US' protesters were heard chanting in one video.