US officials are now confident Iran shot down a Ukrainian jetliner with 176 people on board. Sources say US intelligence picked detected infrared blips of two missile launches, followed by the blip of an explosion.
The Ukrainian jetliner crashed during takeoff in Tehran early Wednesday, killing 176 people — mostly Iranian and Canadian.
Somehow, I don’t think the Iranians or Canadians are going to blame Iran, even though it was their missile. I suspect they will rightfully blame Trump for creating the crisis in the first place.
And….
NEW: Trump says the Ukrainian plane “was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood” and “something terrible happened.” Doesn’t confirm Newsweek and CBS News reports that cited US officials saying the plane was shot down by Iran by accident. But Trump said he has his “suspicions.”
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 9, 2020
Head of Iran’s aviation organisation: There is complete coordination between all military and civilian sectors in Iran, at the time of the plane crash there were dozens of Iranian and foreign planes flying over Iran’s airspace https://t.co/YWjWPEyTYf
— Ali Hashem علي هاشم (@alihashem_tv) January 9, 2020
BREAKING: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will speak to the public at 2pm ET. https://t.co/TQENrkgMSb
— Katie Simpson (@CBCKatie) January 9, 2020
The latest conservative shiny toy — to leap frantically to Trump's defense against those lamenting that it's a tragedy that the airliner was downed by an escalation that didn't have to happen, which is absolutely, 100% correct — is one of their silliest games yet.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 9, 2020