Section: Middle East Monitor (Kuwait)
Canada PM: US to blame for Ukraine plane accident in Iran
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that victims of a Ukrainian flight that crashed in Iran would still be alive if the US hadn’t triggered tensions in the region. In an interview with Global television, Trudeau suggested America’s assassination of Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani had brought about the tensions in...
Protests pile pressure on Iran after admission of plane strike
Iranian protesters and newspapers piled pressure on the country’s leadership and riot police stepped up their presence in Tehran on Sunday after Iran’s military admitted that it had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner, Reuters reports. Riot police fired teargas at thousands of Iranians who had taken to the streets late on...
Iran says military shot down Ukrainian passenger plane in error
Iran said on Saturday its military had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane killing all 176 aboard, saying air defences were fired in error while on high alert in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on US targets in Iraq, Reuters reports. Iran had previously vigorously denied bringing the plane down. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who...
Iran invites Boeing to help probe Ukraine plane crash
Iran has invited Boeing experts and US and Ukrainian aviation investigators to participate in the probe into the crash of a commercial Ukrainian jetliner just outside Tehran on Wednesday killing all 176 passengers on board. The state-run IRNA news agency today quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying Iran “has invited both Ukraine and the...
Iran likely downed Ukraine airliner with missiles, Canada’s Trudeau says, citing intelligence
A Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was likely brought down by an Iranian missile, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said on Thursday, citing intelligence from Canadian and other sources, Reuters reports. The destruction of the airliner, which carried 63 Canadians, “may well have been...
Iran says Canada involved in airline crash probe
Iran invited Canada to participate in the investigation of a downed Boeing plane that killed 176 people, including 63 Canadians, it was announced Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports. A statement posted on the website of the Civil Aviation Organization from Iran said Ukraine invited a 45-person team from Ukraine International Airlines, the...
Trump casts doubt on Ukraine jet crash being mechanical
US President Donald Trump threw cold water Thursday on explanations that a mysterious crash of a Ukrainian jetliner could have been caused by a catastrophic mechanical failure, Anadolu Agency reports. The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737crashed shortly after it took off from Tehran’s International Airport, killing all 176 people...
US-Iran distrust looms over Tehran air crash investigation
The crash of a US-built airliner in Iran with the loss of 176 lives looks set to strain fragile international protocols on co-operation in air disaster investigations at a time when the United States and Iran are mired in confrontation, Reuters reports. The relatively new Boeing 737-800NG jet flown by Ukraine International Airlines burst into...
Russia’s role in Syria is sinister; it’s an occupier with an iron grip
As we enter a new year and a new decade, the Syrian conflict rages on, well into its ninth year. The estimated death toll is touching one million, with over ten million others displaced both internally and externally, from a pre-war population of around 23 million in 2011. The role of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in suppressing protests and...
Trump, Putin discussed Russia attack, arms control, relations
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the state of relations between their two countries in a phone call instigated by Putin, the White House said on Monday. The official reason for the call, according to both sides, was for Putin to thank Trump for what White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said was “information...
