Accepting for arguments sake that this was an Iranian SAM, was Iran sending a message to nations that align themselves with the US that they’re opening themselves to Iranian reprisals?
Interesting that just the other day Khameini (or one of his cabinet members) specifically mentioned the American shootdown of the Iranian airliner in the 1980s. He tweeted something like “if we’re going to think of numbers, let’s not just think of 52 but also of 200, the number onboard the downed Iranian airliner.” Now we have 180 dead on a Ukranian airliner.
Any chance Iran suspects Ukraine of running intel operations against Iran on behalf of the US? If so, I wonder if there may be a Russian counterintel connection here. I note Putin was in Syria the other day as an indirect show of support for Iran.
Was it a message to Europe, warning them not to support a tightening of US sanctions or commercial isolation of Iran?
IOW, was the shootdown Iran’s *real* message of warning and revenge today? Did Iran “allow” it to happen? Their excuse being of course a jittery trigger finger, understandable since they feared a counterattack by the unpredictable bully Trump — and, besides, the US did the same thing in the ‘80s.
It all seems like a reach but the thought comes to mind.
Some people speculate that Iran was really the one behind the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie bombing and that was their revenge (happened 6 months after the Iranian airliner was shot down).