Shooting Down Plane: ‘Operator Acted on Their Own Authority’

Mojtaba Zolnoor, head of the National Security Commission of parliament, after meeting with representatives from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Aerospace Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and aviation authorities, ruled out cyber sabotage in the destruction of the Ukrainian plane and highlighted the operator’s unauthorized action.

Mojtaba Zolnoor, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of parliament, says human error was the cause of the Tehran-Kyiv flight crash, and the operator’s disconnection from the control center has not been proven.

In Sunday’s session on December 29, the head of the special committee investigating the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a representative of the Aerospace Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the deputy commander-in-chief of the army, the head of the country’s national airline, and the director of Imam Khomeini International Airport were present. Zolnoor emphasized that speculations such as electronic warfare and cyber sabotage are ruled out.

The head of parliament’s National Security Commission said the operator should not have acted arbitrarily and with free authorization, and the operator’s and system’s disconnection from the air defense control network has not yet been proven: “…We were in a state of limited fire. Meaning that the air defense system had not yet been given firing orders and targets were not announced, and even if we assume that the air defense system and operator’s connection to the control center was cut off, they still should not have acted arbitrarily and with free authorization. The operator made such an error and made such a decision based on their own judgment and took action.”

Mojtaba Zolnoor added that the discussion of cruise missile movement had also not been verified and the systems did not have reliable information in this regard: “That is, the systems were not informed of exactly where the cruise path was and toward which target it was heading and which system had the mission to intercept it. This did not happen.”

He reported measures against those who had neglected and failed in this regard, and at the same time in justifying the three-day cover-up by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “The armed forces within a short time span of 48 hours should have discussed and examined all these speculations and questions and ambiguities… Those who criticize that the facts were not told to the people do not understand the specialized process of the matter and how time-consuming it is, or are raising these matters under the influence of the current atmosphere.”

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, however, acknowledged that he was aware from the very beginning of the missile firing at the passenger plane, and at the time of receiving the news, he wished for death.

The lack of information and concealment regarding this tragedy raised the possibility that the Guards were evaluating different scenarios; the possibility of denial, human error, or the discussion of “hacking and infiltration” to reduce the consequences.

The Guards have still not answered the question of why the Khatam al-Abyiad base was not aware of the country’s airway traffic schedule.

Fars News Agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, was unaware of the missile hitting the passenger plane until Friday morning. Critics of the Islamic Republic and many observers and analysts do not find this claim credible, given that Khamenei is simultaneously the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

In the destruction of Ukraine International Airlines’ passenger plane by a missile from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the early morning of Wednesday, December 9, all 176 passengers on the plane were killed. At least 139 of the plane’s passengers were Iranian.

Source: DW