The Revolutionary Guards fired two missiles at the Ukrainian plane.
The New York Times has confirmed the authenticity of a new video showing the Revolutionary Guards firing two missiles at the Ukrainian airliner, 30 seconds apart.
The release of a new video of the Revolutionary Guards missile attack on a Ukrainian passenger plane has once again raised doubts about the accuracy of information released by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The authenticity of the video, which was posted on social media, has been confirmed by the New York Times.
The French news agency (AFP) covered the release of this new video on January 15, publishing a report from Washington.
This video shows the IRGC air defense system firing two missiles at a Ukrainian Boeing 737. All 176 passengers and crew on board the Ukrainian plane were killed in the missile attack.
This video shows that the IRGC's air defenses fired two missiles at the aforementioned plane 30 seconds apart, contrary to statements by Islamic Republic officials.
The video also explains why the plane's signal transmission system failed. According to the news agency, the plane's transponder was disabled by the first missile strike.
The plane caught fire after being hit by the first missile, but did not crash. The pilot tried to return to the airport after the transponder was cut off. The New York Times further wrote that the plane was then hit by a second missile and exploded minutes later.
Contradictions of Iranian officials
The Islamic Republic of Iran concealed the news of the IRGC air defense missile attack on the plane for several days. After that, the IRGC Aerospace Commander, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, admitted that the plane had been hit by a missile and declared the cause to be “accidental error.”
Islamic Republic officials have since announced that a missile was fired at the plane, while the released video shows two missiles fired by the Revolutionary Guards' air defenses.
On Tuesday, January 14, the Tasnim news agency even reported the arrest of a person who filmed the incident of the missile hitting the Ukrainian passenger plane.
The news agency's report states, among other things: "Following the publication of images of a missile hitting a Tehran-Kiev passenger plane in cyberspace, the Tehran Sarallah headquarters has taken steps to identify and seize the person who published the aforementioned film in order to investigate and determine the causes and factors involved in this incident. The results of the investigations will subsequently be made available to the noble nation of Iran."
It should be noted that Gholamhossein Esmaili, the spokesman for the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, claimed in his 18th press conference held on January 14 that a number of people had been arrested in connection with the missile attack on the Ukrainian plane. It is still unclear how many people, with the exception of the cameraman of the missile strike scene, were arrested and in what capacity.
Source: DW
