Initial Response Iran’s initial response to the incident appeared uncoordinated with various officials and ministries making different public statements. Initial Iranian statements include: •
Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, told Iran’s semi-official news agency (Mehr News) that the Flight PS752 pilot had not contacted the airport control tower to alert it of any problems. Abedzadeh also said that Flight PS752’s ”black boxes” – the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder – had been found but that they would not be handed over to Boeing or the Americans.60
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A spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development said on January 8, 2020 that a fire erupted in one of Flight PS752’s engines, which caused the aircraft to burst into flames and the pilot to lose control of the aircraft.61
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Another Iranian semi-official news agency, the Iranian Students’ News Agency said on January 8, 2020 that the Ukrainian airliner crashed due to “technical difficulties.”62
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Separately, Iran’s Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization also said early assessments indicated the cause was a technical issue.63
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The Director of Iran’s Center for Communication and Information in the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, Qasem Biniaz, said on January 8, 2020 that “it appeared a fire struck one of its engines. The pilot of the aircraft then lost control of the plane, sending it crashing into the ground.”64 Biniaz denied rumors that the Ukrainian plane was hit by a missile.
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On January 8, 2020, an Iranian Armed Forces spokesman, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, rejected Western media reports that a missile had hit the Ukrainian airliner.65 Describing the reports as part of Americans’ “psychological warfare,” Shekarchi claimed that such reports were “ridiculous.”
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On January 9, 2020, numerous other Iranian officials made statements to state-run media organizations (Fars News and Iran News Network) claiming that the allegations of a missile strike were “psychological warfare” against Iran. This includes Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, who told reporters that “what is obvious to us and we can say for sure is that no missile has hit the plane.”66
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In the hours before Iran admitted culpability on January 10, 2020, Ali Abedzadeh told a televised news conference he was “certain that no missiles hit the aircraft” and that Flight PS752 was not shot down. “If they [Western governments] are certain and have the courage, they should share any finding that has scientific and technical backing.”67
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