Iran absolutely has the motive but do they have the technological savvy to steal a Boeing 777 out of Chinese airspace? Who else has a motive to steal American technology? China. They have been doing it for decades and it was their airspace and they have the electronic warfare capability to pull something like this off and if we figured out what they were up too before they pulled it off, we have the technological and military capability to stop them.
China wouldn’t have to steal a 777 and potentially provoke a massive international crisis in order to attain whatever knowledge/technology they ‘may’ have been seeking. Not to mention potentially provoke massive unrest inside China should the operation go badly and it became known the govt willingly/knowingly participated in the ‘disappearance’ of some 152 of it’s own citizens.
And from what I’ve read the plane wasn’t tracked in Chinese airspace. Civilian contact was lost between Malaysia and Vietnam, while military radar contact was lost somewhere just North of Indonesia. The plane POTENTIALLY COULD have traveled as far North into Chinese airspace, but that’s not determinable at this time.
I’m realizing I may have asked my earlier question on the wrong thread.