Some reports have them flying from an Israeli base in Azerbaijan
Acting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there is unverified information that at least six American F-35 jets were “in the Iranian border area” at the time when Iran accidentally downed Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 last week.
“This information has yet to be verified, but I’d like to underline the edginess that always accompanies such situations,” he said on Friday.
Lavrov stressed that it was important to understand the context of the incident, which occurred as Iran was on very high alert after retaliating against Washington’s assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.
“There is information that the Iranians were expecting another attack from the United States after the strike but did not know what form it might take,” Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister added that he was not trying to excuse anyone for the incident.
On January 8, the Ukrainian plane crashed minutes after take-off near the capital, Tehran, while en route to Kiev. The incident led to the death of all of the 176 people on board, most of whom were Iranians.
Iran initially attributed the crash to technical failure but ultimately announced that the plane had been brought down by a missile fired due to “human error” after conducting further investigations.
‘Very serious red flag’
Speaking on Friday, the Russian foreign minister also said that the tragic downing of the Ukrainian plane served as a “very serious red flag” that signaled a need to “start working on de-escalation and not on constant threats.”
“An increase in tensions between Iran and the US will not help settle any single crisis in the region, if only because the tensions will be increasing,” he said.
Lavrov added that Washington’s “unprecedented” assassination of Soleimani “undermined and put into question all imaginable norms of international law.”
According to Iraqi officials, Soleimani had been invited to Iraq as a formal guest of the Iraqi government when he was targeted by a US drone strike at Baghdad International Airport.
Press TV is a 24-hour English language news and documentary network, affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
IRIB is state-owned but independent of the Iranian government in its management and is the only legal TV and radio broadcaster inside Iran. IRIB’s head is appointed directly by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and is considered to be close to the country’s conservative political faction. Press TV is headquartered in Tehran with offices and bureaus around the world; including London, Beirut, Damascus, Kabul, and the Gaza Strip.
*All posts on behalf of PressTV are made by Jim W. Dean
ATTENTION READERS
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully InformedIn fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
USA is Israel’s Plantation
USA is Israel’s Pantation to reap American Soldiers for Endless Zionist Occupation Attacks , You’re ALL Born to Die for Israel , You Dumb Stupid ………..
Interesting. The common thread between criminal actions of the Soviet Union and the zio-american empire is the ‘great destroyer’ talmud thread. I wonder what would happen if that common thread were no longer involved. Would peace break out all over? We can only hope.
This is the new Cold War, except the roles are reversed. Instead of Soviet aggression or threats in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, or Afghanistan, it’s now the neocon US with aggression Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, and menacing threats of sanctions to EU allies, and with full on control of the propagandist state media.
They will simply lie.
Of more interest is the hint from Russia…we can see your ‘invisible’ planes.
Comments are closed.