Cable Forum - U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Cable Forum (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/index.php)

- Current Affairs (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=20)

- - U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33708596)

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 36022349)

Going back to the starting point of this thread, it was stated separately by the Pentagon, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Trump, that Soleimani was assassinated because he was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members.

Pentagon statement 2nd January

Mike Pompeo 3rd January

Trump 3rd January

Why would killing one person stop these attacks happening? Quds is the equivalent (according to US General Stanley McChrystal) of a combination of the CIA and JSOC, with around 20,000 personnel, and his deputy took over the same day - the plans will still be there, and the personnel and equipment.

Unless they are trying to send a message: "We can get to your top brass". Otherwise, why do it so publicly? I'm fairly certain the CIA is quite capable of arranging a small accident for him. Maybe a heart attack?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Quote:

Originally Posted by heero_yuy (Post 36022390)

Quote:

Iran blamed “technical problems” for the deadly fireball, and have locked down the crash site and refused to release the black boxes to international authorities.

But aviation experts have now suggested a “shootdown” was the most likely explanation for the disaster.

The OPS group, an aviation risk monitoring group, said: “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."

They highlighted pictures of the crash site which they said "show obvious projectile holes in the fuselage and a wing section".

Aviation expert Julian Bray told Sun Online: "This is catastrophic and not the type of crash that comes from an engine failing. There would have been nothing that anyone could do.

"It is very unusual, you would expect to see some wreckage but all we can see here is debris."

Debris pictures and story on link above. The holes in the fusilage certainly look like they were made by some sort of small projectile.

Interestingly, the OPS blog page doesn’t say it’s the most likely explanation - that is the media’s interpretation of their blog.

Quote:

Purely from the perspective of making a risk assessment for operations to Tehran, and Iran in general, however, 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.

Images seen by OPSGROUP, shown below, show obvious projectile holes in the fuselage and a wing section. Whether that projectile was an engine part, or a missile fragment is still conjecture

It appears to me they are saying "err on the side of caution", not that it is the most likely explanation.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Brown trousers on stand-by

Reports 737 was shot down by missile

https://news.sky.com/story/iran-plan...ssile-11904698

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Being reported by multiple news outlets now - Newsweek quoting US officials: The Ukrainian plane that crashed in Iran was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system, which was operating during the conflict, at the time.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Of course it was. I’m surprised anyone ever thought otherwise. A perfectly capable passenger jet takes off from a city that has just ordered air raids on the most powerful military in the world and is braced for reprisals, then suddenly falls out of the sky with the loss of all lives aboard. The incident absolutely screams “anti aircraft fire”. No wonder Trump was so easy to talk down - if the Pentagon does have persuasive evidence it can share they don’t need to pile the pressure on Iran with cruise missiles, they can wage a pretty effective publicity war instead, playing on the line that Iran is a terrorist state and General Al-Vader or whatever his name was was the arch terrorist.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36022441)

It's looking more like it was.

Quote:

One US official said US satellites had detected the launch of two missiles shortly before the plane crashed, followed by evidence of an explosion, Reuters news agency reported.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Not totally impossible that there was a fault on the plane and it turned around, then others might have been a bit jumpy over an airborne object unexpectedly flying towards Tehran and mistook it for an attack.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadking (Post 36022447)

That’s plausible, given that there must still have been a reason for them to fire missiles at it, beyond it simply being in the sky (presumably the military were aware the airport was still open).

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Massive Iranian cock-up. Poor souls on board R.I.P.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

I think it will be radio silence out of Tehran for some time.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Authentic video circulating showing a SAM being launched at the plane.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

Quote:

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 36022465)

Authentic video circulating showing a SAM being launched at the plane.

Linkage?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

https://mobile.twitter.com/bellingca...52457972404226

Now there's reports Iran has bulldozed the wreckage into a pile. Edit: appears to also be true.

Annotated: https://twitter.com/bellingcat/statu...749828097?s=20

There's now many images circulating showing the debris of a tor missile. These will be impossible to verify but they're still a fair shout.

Second video aftermath: https://twitter.com/SBayatpour/statu...81406797029377 (Not authenticated yet)

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

More good work from Bellingcat I see.

It looks like mainstream media is picking it up now too.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a9277576.html

(Not the BBC yet though, their rules on this sort of thing are very strict since David Kelly and the sexed-up dodgy dossier).

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General

I wonder if Corbyn will bang on about whether the shooting down of a passenger jet with 175 people on board is against international law.....................

Just a thought.