Ukrainian plane .. Do Iranian investigations overthrow big names?

Al-Jazeera Net - private

Iranian circles doubted that the main reason behind the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane was a pure human mistake, and talked about the influence of foreign hands, while others expected that investigations would reveal major names involved in the accident.

About a week after the Ukrainian plane was shot down shortly after take-off from Imam Khomeini airport, south of the capital Tehran, and 176 people on board were killed, the Iranian judiciary announced on Tuesday the arrest of a number of those involved in the accident.

And revealed the launching of investigations by forming a committee that includes a number of specialists from the armed forces, the National Aviation Organization and cyber experts (in protecting electronic systems, networks and programs), to find the main reason behind the disaster and the role of the caretakers and directors in the accident.

Opinions varied in Iran about the extraneous hands in the accident and the figures that could be overthrown by the investigations, since the commander of the Ground Forces of the Revolutionary Guard, General Amir Ali Haji Zadeh, recognized his country's responsibility to shoot down the plane due to a human error.

Plot and attacks
And some Iranian parties go - as usual - to put forward the conspiracy hypothesis and the influence of foreign hands that led to the disaster, and cites Brigadier Hajji Zada ​​who said that "the decision to launch the missile came after warnings of a cruise missile attack," and "we asked to stop flying during the attack on the base of Ain Assad, but that was not done. "

The statements of Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Shamkhani, contributed greatly to strengthening the hypothesis of the conspiracy. The Iranian official attributed the reason for the delay in announcing the shooting down of the Iranian anti-aircraft, the Ukrainian plane, to study the possibilities of cyber attacks.

Former MP Mehdi Kojiczadeh, who is close to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, described the incident in an Instagram tweet as "intentional", and it might be a group incorporated in the Air Force that planned and executed it.

In the context, the spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian parliament, Hossein Naqawi Hosseini, questioned the premise of unintentionally shooting the plane, adding, "There is something behind the scenes in targeting the plane," ruling out that the human error alone was behind the disaster.

The Secretary of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Jalil Mohebi, also published excerpts from the statements of Brigadier Hajji Zada, during which he revealed that the decision to launch the missile came after warnings of a cruise missile attack, and he wondered about the party that had announced at the time falsely that a cruise missile attack had occurred.

This party is counting on the results of the investigations to uncover high Iranian authorities, saying that it was complicit in bringing down the Ukrainian plane to escalate the tension more and more and preparing the ground for Iran to sit at the negotiating table with America, to avoid any possible war.

Quests are common
On the other hand, a media source close to the Revolutionary Guards pointed the finger at government circles for what he called "lack of response to the Revolutionary Guard air forces' request to stop civil aviation flights during the bombing of the American base of Al-Assad."

The source added - who stipulated that his identity not be revealed in his conversation with Al-Jazeera Net - that according to the tenth article of the Iranian Civil Aviation Law, the responsibility for stopping civil flights when necessary due to a threat to security or war conditions rests with the Civil Aviation Organization after the approval of the Ministerial Council on the request .

He revealed that there were reports in recent days of the intention of some government circles to resign due to the shortcomings in the incident, but retracted its decision, after the Revolutionary Guard held responsibility for the disaster in order to ensure the unity of the country and remove the specter of threats, and that this is what the investigations will lead to.

In the past two days, some Iranian media have reported rumors about the resignation of Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani and Ishaq Jahangiri, the first aide to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which he later denied.

National interest
The same source does not rule out that the results of the investigations will be covered if it reaches senior figures in the government to ward off sedition, especially since the political movement of the upcoming presidential elections will start after months.

He also revealed that the arrests included some anti-air cadres and elements of the Revolutionary Guards air force, noting that the Revolutionary Guards announced its comprehensive readiness to cooperate with the investigations to find the main reason behind the incident, and that the arrests did not mean condemnation.

The National Authority is the prominent title of not raising many issues in the media and communication platforms, according to the source close to the Revolutionary Guards, who saw coordination between those who photographed targeting the plane as if he was on a security mission during which he did not utter a lip to prevent identification, and between the one who sent the tapes to the side western.

The incident of the Ukrainian plane downing occurred hours after Iran launched missiles targeting two military bases in Iraq where American soldiers are stationed, in response to the assassination of Washington, commander of the Quds Force, by the Revolutionary Guards in Baghdad.

Tehran had initially denied the plane was caused by a missile, and said it had convincing evidence in this regard.