Business Insider: The Iranian government is turning on its military after it lied about the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane
* Iran's leadership has turned on its military over its response to the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 last week.
* While Iran initially insisted that the plane crashed because of technical issues, it later said its Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down the commercial plane down by mistake.
* President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran must "compensate" for the crash and demanded that the Revolutionary Guard "explain to people" exactly what happened.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also rebuked the military for its actions and said on Wednesday that recent heated protests in the country were a response to the Iranian public's being "lied to."
* Experts have said the Iranian government's U-turn on its military indicates it is struggling to control the narrative around the downing of the plane.
Iran's leadership has turned on its military its response to last week's downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in the country's capital, Tehran, which killed all 176 people on board.
Iran initially insisted that the plane crashed because of technical issues, but days later it said its Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down the Boeing 737-800 by mistake.
Iran has promised to prosecute those involved, and senior officials have been quick to accept responsibility for the jet's downing.
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WNU Editor: The Iranian President And the Iranian Foreign Minister may be critical on how the Iranian military, but the man that counts in Iran is publicly supporting the armed forces .... Iran's Khamenei stands by Guards after unrest over downed plane (Reuters).
3 comments:
WNU has this right.
There are TWO militaries in Iran. People seem to miss this. One is the regular military which evolved from that of the Shah after 1979, and the IRGC which answers only to the Supreme Leader. It was the IRGC that shot down the Ukrainian plane but the general staff of the regular military that announced that that's what had happened, and it's the general staff that's doing the military investigation.
It also should be noted that Rouhani won two elections as a critic of the IRGC and when he installed his second administration, he appointed a defense minister from the regular army rather than the IRGC. There are likely multiple layers of tensions around this in Iran which we in the west never hear about but are crucial to understanding the real situation.
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