[Kevmo]

I’ll continue to believe that this was an exercise to show up the Russians’ hottest antiaircraft stuff, and to wipe out a multinational terrorist installation.
***There’s no reason to tip your hand when it’s just an ‘exercise’. You’d risk the fact that the Iranians could figure out how the spoofing was done and you’d be risking thousands of American lives.

[steve86]

I’ll continue to believe that this was an exercise to show up the Russians’ hottest antiaircraft stuff

It isn't the hottest stuff. It is the export stuff and is dummied down just like ours is. Considering the destination, it was probably maximally dumbed down.