The Drums Of War, Con't

Iran's government is now admitting that the Ukrainian passenger jet that was destroyed earlier this week was in fact shot down "unintentionally" by the Iranian military.

Iran said on Saturday it had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane killing all 176 people aboard and voiced its deep regret, after initially denying it brought down the aircraft in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq. 

Wednesday’s crash heightened international pressure on Iran after months of friction with the United States and tit-for-tat military attacks. Tensions in the Middle East intensified last week after a U.S. drone strike killed an Iranian general in Iraq, prompting Tehran to fire at U.S. targets on Wednesday. 

Canada, which had 57 citizens on board, and the United States had said they believed an Iranian missile brought down the aircraft although they said it was probably an accident. Canada’s foreign minister had told Iran “the world is watching.” 

Ukraine had been more cautious in apportioning blame, but said it had agreed with Canada to push for an objective investigation. 

“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wrote on Twitter. “My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families.” 

Many of the victims were Iranian with dual nationality.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter that “human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism led to disaster,” citing an initial armed forces investigation into the crash of the Boeing 737-800. 

An Iranian military statement, which was the first to indicate Iran’s U-turn, said the plane had flown close to a sensitive military site belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guards.

Iran is blaming Trump for this, and there's still a number of things that the investigation could turn up, but frankly if you're in a position where you actually have less credibility internationally on a subject than the Trump regime, you have royally screwed up and absolutely deserve the consequences.

The fact of the matter is that 176 people are dead in a 100% preventable tragedy.  Iran's response of "well we wouldn't be firing missiles at planes if Trump hasn't killed our long-time Head of Dirty Deeds" is actually more repugnant than Trump's move a week ago to blow the guy up along with several Iraqi militia leaders.  Let's not for a moment here pretend that the Iranian government has been all sunshine and lollipops since '79.

So what's Trump's next move?  Who knows at this point?  Could be nothing, could be massive multiple simultaneous strikes on Iranian assets around the Middle East.

All I know is the sane adults are nowhere near being in charge right now.