A senior Iranian commander who admitted to Iran’s role in the recent downing of a Ukrainian airplane bragged in 2016 that even the youngest Iranian officers have unilateral authority to conduct strikes like the one that downed the Ukrainian plane, killing every civilian aboard, according to video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace division, said over the weekend that his country “accepts full responsibility” for the airstrike that brought down the Ukrainian commercial plane. Hajizadeh said his country’s forces were on high alert following a ramp up in military tensions with the United States.
U.S. officials familiar with the situation said it is likely Iran mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian jet, fearing a retaliatory strike by the United States for Iran’s missile attacks this week on several American outposts in the region.
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Hajizadeh’s 2016 remarks bragging about Iran’s desire to launch attacks is likely to raise fresh concerns about the possibility of further strikes on commercial airlines flying in and around Iranian airspace.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a no-fly order to American commercial airlines operating in the region just hours before Iran downed the Ukrainian plane, the Free Beacon reported this week.
Hajizadeh said that young Iranian officers do not need to obtain permission before launching strikes similar to the one that downed the Ukrainian plane.
“Ahead of time, scenarios have been planned and units have been given the authorization,” Hajizadeh said in the 2016 interview, which was independently translated for the Free Beacon. “Look, when it comes to the shooting of defensive missiles, if an enemy aircraft is incoming, why would we be asking permission from someone? It’s possible that a sub-commander is manning the system I tell him and he shoots and hits [the target].”
“A while ago when we hit the Zionist regime’s Hermès system at Natanz, it’s not that they asked me or the general staff or the defense commander for permission,” Hajizadeh disclosed at the time. “The officer manning the system saw, assessed, and struck. It’s the same situation with the surface-to-surface missiles. It’s not like an order is issued—the officers start the initial operation but any continuation and the policy planning would be done by the senior commanders. But the initial operation, the reaction, would be done immediately.”
The IRGC’s policy regarding such strikes appears to have backfired. Hajizadeh said in his most recent remarks on the Ukrainian strike that the Iranian officer who ordered the attack made a “bad decision.”
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Chris Wolf
4 years ago
If they say it was an accident then the treason media, who are on Iran’s side against Trump, can say, ‘Look what Trump did, made them so nervous they killed 170 innocent people.’
If only the treason media had an iota as much tolerance for any mistake our American military should ever make.
The enemy of the people, the enemy of America — the immigrant-infested, enemy sympathizing mainstream media.
He needs to be taken out by the Ukranians.
They are the party who suffered the principal wrong in this shootdown, followed by the Canadians.
I think we can all figure out what the Canadian response under Trudeau will be.
“Nearby Forces” are irrelevant in Drone Operations.
I’m confident the Ukranians have the technical wherewithal to smoke the Revolutionary Guard Unit that perpetrated this atrocity without a single Ukranian boot leaving a footprint on Iranian soil.
And as with the Democrats, these disgusting traitors of the media demand the Donald Trump get permission from Congress in order to wage war and assassinate a disgusting Muslim murderer like Soleimani. Had the WH informed Congress or sought it’s authority to assassinate Soleimani, we can absolutely bet that these traitorous bits of Democrat filth would have warned Iran.
Impressive! I’m sure the black lesbian Mayor will straighten all that out.
LOL!!! They insist on voting in losers.
VMS
4 years ago
The stupid camel jockeys don’t realize that US military planes can easily detect and evade SA-15 (Tor M1) missiles. On the other hand, passenger planes are sitting ducks.
If the US were intent on bombing Iranian targets, the Iranians would essentially be defenseless, and I think that they know that in their hearts.
santashandler
4 years ago
A mistake? Come on. There are no “mistakes” when it comes to firing missiles. Notice how the General did NOT say the low level officer who gave the command to fire, did NOT go rogue. Therefore, he had the FULL knowledge and blessing of the Iranian gov. Iran should be hit hard for that one. They’ve already gotten away with far too much.
Agreed. During 9/11 we grounded all civilian aircraft in order to differentiate between innocent and aggressor . Why did Iran grant clearance for a civilian airliner to fly into a hostile fire zone?
AlgorithmicAnalyst
4 years ago
muslim psychos with russian sams
Mel Carver
4 years ago
“Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace division”. Aerospace Division? Give me a break, these goat herders will NEVER get to outer space.
Well now, hold on. I hear the Iranians are working on the new GS5000 model Magic carpet that will take them all the way to space. They just have to figure out how to fit a goat on it.
It has taken quite a while for that prick responsible for this outrage to come forward. they must have been frantically working with the Democrats and the media on some way to blame Trump. Didn’t work for them. But the mass murderer will most likely still finish up with a medal. They just love murdering don’t they ?
Give them an inch and they think they are a ruler.
What a cheap stunt, labeling an obvious screw up as an intentional act. The biggest dumb stunt was granting clearance to a civilian airliner to fly through a hostile fire zone.
Rick Gouveia
4 years ago
American-Pesrian NASA Astronaut Jasmin “Jaws” Moghbeli (who is not a Muslim because her family escaped the Muslim occupation of Iran) is interviewed by leftist AFP “news” on how she survives Trump’s “racist attacks on Muslims”. Jasmin replies, “”I haven’t in any way felt that changed anything about how I’m treated!” (in other words “what the hell are you leftists talking about?”). https://news.yahoo.com/space-unites-us-first-iranian-american-astronaut-reaches-012936743.html
william carr
4 years ago
This is not the first time and will not be the last. The USSR shot down a Korean airliner back in the 70s I think it was. The Russian backed separatists a KLM airliner few years back. These people and especially the Muslims place no value on human life, the latter will willingly slaughter their own children if they step out of line, so why would they care about the children of infidels?
HardyBrooks
4 years ago
There are now reports that maybe it wasn’t an accident.9 planes departed this airport prior to this one, and 3 after it did. Seems that there might have been an Iranian general fleeing the country after informing the west of the travel schedule of General Saleimani and it was the only way to dispose of him. The passenger manifest being released would show if this or any other Iranians leaving on this flight might have been involved. The US govt had a bounty of $15 million dollars for information to his whereabouts, maybe someone or a very small group decided to cash in and sneak out of the country but were exposed.The Ayatollah has no regard for human life, as shown by the over 1500 protesters slaughtered in the past month, what are 176 more to add to that? Obama gave him $150 billion dollars, he will appease the dead’s families with reparations and think no more about it.
Stephen Honig
4 years ago
He should be the next to go, like Salami!
Robert Kahlcke
4 years ago
Is that obama’s Uncle ?
Halal Bacon
4 years ago
sounds like biden, well son umma biatch, the plane got shot down…
ned kelly
4 years ago
The biggest mistake was they killed their own people. 95% of the killed were Iranians visiting family back home in Iran. All the 80 Canadians were Iranian, All the 3 UK citizens were Iranian.
Public_Citizen
4 years ago
Are you listening Ukraine?
This pile of goat droppings [Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh] needs to be the target of ~your~ response to the Deliberate and Unprovoked Shootdown of ~your~ Civiliann Aircraft.
We’ve shown the world how it’s done, the Iranians are slow learners, over to you.
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