Episode (24/7/2020) of the program "Beyond the News" asked about the message that Washington wanted to send to intercept the Iranian plane, and the validity of the justifications it provided to explain what happened, as well as the repercussions that could be raised by this process in view of the tense atmosphere in the region For now.
The operation, which Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed, is a violation of international laws that endangers the lives of civilian passengers, carried out - according to the US Central Command - according to international standards, and aimed to verify the identity of the Iranian passenger plane as part of Washington's efforts to ensure the safety of the coalition forces at the Al-Tanf base. Syria.
A justification that Tehran considered funny for an incident that violates international law, she said, and comes in the context of repeated American behavior, which must be addressed before a disaster strikes, according to Iran.
This coincides with an Israeli alert on the border with Lebanon, and Tel Aviv's assertion that shells will fall in its areas of control over the occupied Golan.
"This is not the first incident in which Washington provokes Tehran," said former Iranian diplomat Hadi Afqihi, recalling the downing of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988.
Afqihi added that this operation violates the laws of air navigation, considering that the presence of American forces in Syria is illegal.
Afqihi clarified that targeting the Iranian passenger plane reflects an internal situation in which the American President Donald Trump may respond to the statement of the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution against Khamenei, when he affirmed the continuation of "pursuing American terrorists in the region" against the background of the killing of the commander of the Quds Force in the Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani.
For his part, Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a former assistant commander of the US forces in Iraq and a former adviser to the US secretary of state, accused Iran of continuing to create problems and destabilize the region.
Kimmitt said that the plane was suspicious and did not carry clear indications of its identity, especially as it was passing through the airspace of a war zone, stressing that the goal of the operation was to verify the identity of the plane.
For his part, Ibrahim Freihat, professor of international conflict at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said that there is still no clear evidence of American goals other than the ones she announced.
But Freihat added that, in light of the American-Israeli escalation against Iran, the process aims to send a strong message to the Iranian leadership on the need to respond to the American demands, which is part of the escalation strategy pursued by Washington, including the attack on the Iranian nuclear facility, Natanz.
Freihat added that if the interception of the Iranian passenger plane causes it to fall, the United States will find many justifications for the accident, such as approaching the American forces.
He pointed to a permanent American-Israeli belief that Tehran is transporting weapons in its civilian planes, saying that Washington has sent a message to Tehran that if the arms transfer continues, wait for the escalation.