{"id":1472,"date":"2020-01-16T04:32:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T04:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2020-01-16T04:34:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T04:34:01","slug":"iran-warns-europe-as-diplomat-says-officials-lied-on-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1472","title":{"rendered":"Iran warns Europe as diplomat says officials ‘lied’ on crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

By NASSER KARMI, JON GAMBRELL and EMILY SCHMALL, Associated Press<\/p>\n

\n
Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0In this photograph taken Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, protesters hold flowers as tear gas fired by police rises at a demonstration in front of Amir Kabir University in Tehran, Iran, to remember victims of a Ukrainian airplane shot down by an Iranian missile. On Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, online videos purported to show that Iranian security forces fired both live ammunition and tear gas to disperse demonstrators protesting against the Islamic Republic’s initial denial that it shot down a Ukrainian jetliner. (AP Photo)<\/span><\/span>TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran’s president warned Wednesday that European soldiers in the Mideast \u201ccould be in danger\u201d after three nations challenged Tehran over breaking the limits of its nuclear deal. Tehran’s top diplomat meanwhile acknowledged that Iranians \u201cwere lied to\u201d for days following the Islamic Republic’s accidental shoot down of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people.President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks in a televised Cabinet meeting represent the first direct threat he’s made to Europe as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over President Donald Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the deal in May 2018.<\/p>\n

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s admission, which came at a summit in New Delhi on Wednesday, represents the first time an Iranian official referred to earlier claims from Tehran that a technical malfunction downed the Ukraine International Airlines flight as a lie. The shoot down \u2014 and subsequent days of denials that a missile had downed it \u2014 sparked days of angry protests in the country.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\u00a9 Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0In this Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020 photo, wreckage from a Ukrainian plane is seen on the ground and inside a water canal in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran. Iran on Friday denied Western allegations that one of its own missiles downed a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed outside Tehran, and called on the U.S. and Canada to share any information they have on the crash, which killed all 176 people on board. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi)<\/span><\/span>The current tensions between Iran and the U.S. reached fever-pitch two weeks ago with the American drone strike in Baghdad that killed\u00a0the powerful Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani<\/a>. The general had led Iranian proxy forces abroad, including those blame for deadly roadside bomb attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.Iran retaliated with a ballistic missile strike targeting Iraqi military bases housing U.S. forces early last Wednesday, just before an anti-aircraft battery shot down the Ukrainian airliner taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. New video obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday purported to show Iran fired two surface-to-air missiles at the doomed aircraft.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\u00a9 Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0In this photograph taken Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, Iranian police officers take position while protesters gather in front of Amir Kabir University in Tehran, Iran, to remember victims of a Ukrainian airplane shot down by an Iranian missile. Online videos purported to show Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, that Iranian security forces fired both live ammunition and tear gas to disperse demonstrators protesting against the Islamic Republic’s initial denial that it shot down a Ukrainian jetliner. (AP Photo)<\/span><\/span>Amid all of this, Britain, France and Germany launched the so-called \u201cdispute mechanism\u201d pertaining to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Speaking before his Cabinet, Rouhani showed a rarely seen level of anger in his wide-ranging remarks Wednesday.\u201cToday, the American soldier is in danger, tomorrow the European soldier could be in danger,\u201d Rouhani said. \u201dWe want you to leave this region but not with war. We want you to go wisely. It is to your own benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rouhani did not elaborate.<\/p>\n

European forces have been deployed\u00a0<\/a>alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. France also maintains a naval base in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, while Britain has opened a base in the island nation of Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\"Rescue<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\u00a9 Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0Rescue workers recover the bodies of victims of a Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane carrying over 170 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s main airport, killing all onboard. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi)<\/span><\/span>European Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters that officials were aware of the threats, but the European Union had no plans to leave Iraq. Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini told lawmakers his government has plans to increase Rome’s troop levels at the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil passes.\"People<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n
\u00a9 Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0People gather for a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Ukraine plane crash, at the gate of Amri Kabir University that some of the victims of the crash were former students of, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020. Iran on Saturday, Jan. 11, acknowledged that its armed forces “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed earlier this week, killing all 176 aboard, after the government had repeatedly denied Western accusations that it was responsible. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi)<\/span><\/span>German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer made an unannounced visit Wednesday to the Azraq base in Jordan, where German troops serving in the fight against the Islamic State group are based. Germany wants to resume training Iraqi forces.Rouhani separately criticized Europe’s \u201cbaseless\u201d words regarding the nuclear deal. Iran had been holding out for Europe to offer a means by which Tehran could sell its oil abroad despite U.S. sanctions. However, a hoped-for trading mechanism for other goods hasn’t taken hold and a French-pitched line of credit also hasn’t materialized.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\u00a9 Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0This undated photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, shows the wreckage of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 at the scene of the crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran. Iran has acknowledged that its armed forces “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed earlier this week, killing all 176 aboard, after the government had repeatedly denied Western accusations that it was responsible. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)<\/span><\/span>After Soleimani’s killing, Iran announced it would no longer abide by any of the nuclear deal’s limits, which had been designed to keep Tehran from having enough material to be able to build an atomic bomb if it chose. However, Iran has said it will continue to allow the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog access to its nuclear sites. Rouhani on Wednesday also reiterated a longtime Iranian pledge that Tehran doesn’t seek the bomb.\"Protesters<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n
\u00a9 Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0Protesters chant slogans while holding up posters of Gen. Qassem Soleimani during a demonstration in front of the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020. A candlelight ceremony late Saturday in Tehran turned into a protest, with hundreds of people chanting against the country’s leaders \u2014 including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei \u2014 and police dispersing them with tear gas. Police briefly detained the British ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, who said he went to the Saturday vigil without knowing it would turn into a protest. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi)<\/span><\/span>The European nations reluctantly triggered the accord\u2019s dispute mechanism on Tuesday to force Iran into discussions, starting the clock on a process that could result in the \u201csnapback\u201d of U.N. and EU sanctions on Iran.The Europeans felt compelled to act, despite objections from Russia and China, because every violation of the deal reduces the so-called \u201cbreakout time\u201d Iran needs to produce a nuclear bomb, Britain\u2019s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told parliament. Under the deal’s limits, experts believed Iran needed a year to be able to have enough material for a weapon.<\/p>\n

Zarif, speaking in New Delhi at the Raisina Dialogue, blamed U.S. \u201cignorance\u201d and \u201carrogance\u201d for \u201cfueling mayhem\u201d in the Middle East. However, he also acknowledged the anger Iranians felt over the plane shoot down.<\/p>\n

\"Rescue<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\u00a9 Provided by Associated Press<\/span>\u00a0Rescue workers carry the body of a victim of an Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s main airport, killing all onboard. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi)<\/span><\/span>\u201cIn the last few nights, we\u2019ve had people in the streets of Tehran demonstrating against the fact that they were lied to for a couple of days,\u201d Zarif said.Zarif went onto praise Iran’s military for being \u201cbrave enough to claim responsibility early on.”<\/p>\n

However, he said that he and Rouhani only learned that a missile had down the flight on Friday, raising new questions over how much power Iran’s civilian government has in its Shiite theocracy. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which shot down the aircraft, knew immediately afterward its missile downed the airline.<\/p>\n

The Guard is answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is expected to preside over Friday prayers in Iran for the first time in years over anger about the crash.<\/p>\n

But there was a sense that the chance for immediate further retaliation by Iran against the U.S. may have lifted. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, said in a speech that Iran’s \u201cwar project was closed since the people stood\u201d against American pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we are moving toward peace,\u201d Salami said.<\/p>\n

That contradicted Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guard’s aerospace program, who blamed the U.S. in part for the shootdown and vowed further revenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly these consecutive blows will continue and we will avenge the blood of these martyrs on them,\u201d said Hajizadeh, who only days earlier apologized and said \u201cI wish I were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The black-and-white surveillance footage obtained by the AP, filmed off a monitor by a mobile phone, appears to be taken near the town of Bidkaneh, northwest of Tehran\u2019s Imam Khomeini International Airport. That\u2019s the airport the Ukraine International Airlines flight took off from Jan. 8.<\/p>\n

The two-minutes of footage purports to show one missile streaking across the sky and exploding near the plane. Ten seconds later, another missile is fired and explodes near the aircraft. A ball of flames then falls from the sky out of frame.<\/p>\n

The footage corresponds with AP reporting, appears genuine and matches geographic features of the area.<\/p>\n

Also on Wednesday, Iranian state media said the British ambassador to Iran, Robert Macaire, had left the country. Macaire left after being given what the state-run IRNA news agency described as \u201cprior notice,\u201d without elaborating. Britain’s Foreign Office insisted Macaire’s trip to London was “routine, business as usual” and was planned before his arrest in Tehran. It said he planned return to Iran.<\/p>\n

Macaire had been held after attending a candlelight vigil Saturday in Tehran over Iran shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner. The vigil quickly turned into an anti-government protests and Macaire left shortly after, only to be arrested by police.<\/p>\n

In Ukraine, forensic analysts expect to start decoding next week the flight data recorders recovered from the downed plane. The recorders, known as black boxes, have yet to be transported to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Schmall from New Delhi. Associated Press writer s Nadia Ahmed and Jill Lawless in London, Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Frances D’Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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