Radiofarda – Iranian authorities have not contacted any of the families whose loved ones were on the Ukrainian airline flight shot down near Tehran by Iran’s military on January 8. Hiva Molani his wife Evin and their daughter Kordia were on the Ukrainian flight returning to Canada on January 8, 2020 After three days of repeated denials by Iranian officials …

Radiofarda – Iran will issue a “preliminary report” on the Ukrainian airliner crash on Saturday, Fars news agency close to Revolutionary Guards reported on Friday. Quoting “an informed source” Fars said during the announcement of the preliminary results “foreign representatives” will also be present, but did not specify their nationalities. Iran has come under criticism for not quickly involving all …

Radiofarda – In a tweet on Thursday Hesameddin Ashena who is President Hassan Rouhani’s media advisor warned “the Iranian agents of Persian-language media [abroad] not to participate in the psychological warfare regarding the Ukrainian airliner [crash] and stop cooperating with those who are at war with Iran”. The threat came after years of harassment and intimidation of Iranian journalists working …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards offered an explanation and apology on Saturday for the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran earlier this week, the official IRNA news agency reported. Senior commander of the Aerospace Force of the Revolutionary Guards, Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a press briefing on Saturday that the Ukrainian plane was misidentified as a …

Al-Arabia – President Donald Trump said on Friday Iran probably had targeted the US embassy in Baghdad and was aiming to attack four US embassies when its top general, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US drone strike.“We will tell you probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad,” Trump said in a clip of an interview on …

RFL/RE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says his country expects a full probe, a full admission of guilt, and compensation from Iran after Tehran admitted, after days of denial, it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 aboard. Zelenskiy said “Iran has pleaded guilty to downing the Ukrainian plane. But we insist on a full admission of guilt.” …

RFL/RE – The United States carried out a secret operation in Yemen that targeted, but failed to kill, a senior Iranian military commander last week, unidentified U.S. officials say. The Washington Post, Reuters, and AP quoted the officials as saying on January 10 that an air strike targeted Abdul Reza Shahlai, a senior officer in the elite Quds Force of …

VOA – The U.S. placed more sanctions on Iran Friday in response to its missile attack on U.S. military troops in Iraq last week, and it threatened further action to weaken Iran’s economy if Tehran continues to carry out what it considers terrorist actions. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said at a White House news conference the new sanctions target Iran’s …

Radiofarda – The daughter of Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC Commander who was killed during a U.S. drone attack in Baghdad on January 3, says “Thousands and thousands of Soleimanis are ready to march on the White House.” She made the statement in an address before the start of Friday Prayers in Kerman, her father’s hometown on January 10. Soleimani was …

Radiofarda — A court in Kosovo has ordered a woman accused of inciting terrorism on social media be remanded in custody for one month after she praised a top Iranian general killed in a U.S. air strike. Ikballe Huduti-Berisha (in green head scarf) stands next to former Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinehad in an undated photo. The Basic Court in Pristina …