Tragedy of Ukrainian Flight PS752 and Canada’s conspiratorial narrative

Crescent International

Jumada' al-Ula' 13, 1442 2020-12-28

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on December 15 that his government does not believe Iran shot down Ukrainian airline flight PS752 due to human error.

Elementary examination of the circumstances leading to the plane tragedy points out that Champagne’s statement is aimed at pushing a political narrative, rather than getting to the bottom of the issue.

Western media’s coverage of the ongoing discussion and investigation regarding compensation and investigation into the downed plane often leaves out the important surrounding circumstances which led to the tragedy.

Here is an important chronology of events which exposes Champagne’s statement as nothing more than political theatrics.

On January 3, 2020, the US government carried out a criminal act by violating Iraqi sovereignty and assassinated General Qasem Soleimani while he was heading for an official meeting with Iraqi government representatives.

On January 8, 2020, Islamic Iran carried out surgical strikes against two US military bases in Iraq which resulted in 109 US soldiers being injured.

No state entity had ever dared strike US military bases. Even at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union never dared to do so.

Naturally, Iran was expecting a response from one of the world’s most brutal regimes.

Thus, everyone in Tehran was tense and expecting incoming missiles from US military installations.

These circumstances led to the tragedy of flight PS752.

Iranian government did not initially recognize that it shot down the civilian airplane, as the error which led to the tragedy was caused by the personnel of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) that operate independent of Iran’s conventional bureaucratic governmental structure.

Thus, the Iranian Defense Ministry had to cross reference the situation with IRGC officials.

In the state of heightened alert, tense regional situation and bureaucratic red tape, it would take a few days for many governments to reach a solid conclusion on what happened.

Once Iran conducted its initial internal investigation, the IRGC took full responsibility for its tragic mistake.

On November 25, Iran announced that it will pay compensations to the victims’ families on downed Ukraine airlines flight through its National Development Fund.

The Canadian foreign affairs minister’s statement rejecting human error in the downing of the plane is pushing a conspiracy theory without evidence.

It also lacks common sense.

Champagne is trying to imply that Tehran deliberately shot down a civilian airliner that was carrying its own citizens.

Why would a Canadian minister push such a narrative?

After the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani and Tehran’s legitimate retaliation, Iran’s reputation at home and in the Muslim world skyrocketed.

Tehran was at its all-time high in terms of public relations.

The flight PS752 tragedy dented Iran’s reputation and the Western media jumped on the tragedy in order to utilize it as a political tool.

Why would Iran deliberately undermine its own reputation?

Champagne’s unfounded and politically motivated statement is a clear sign that instead of helping families of the victims to get closure, Western politicians want to milk their tragedy for political gains and use it as a pressure mechanism against Iran.