Minister of Intelligence Curbs Reporting on Air crash

Morteza Mohseni, Rooz Online:

Just two days after a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft belonging to Iran’s military crashed due to technical problems, killing all passengers on board and others as it hit a building near Mehrabad airport, another plane, this time a Dutch built Fokker, also carrying journalists and going to the same destination developed had to circle the airport for about an hour before landing because its landing gear would not open. The aircraft, like the ill-fated C-130, belonged to and was operated by Iran’s military.

Reports from Tehran indicate that following the warning made by Hamshahri newspaper over “revealing” information about the C-130 air crash last week, Intelligence Minister Mohseni Ejeyi summoned the editor of the daily and cautioned him about the consequences of putting his threat into action. Following the air crash, Hamshahri editorialized that it had received very “specific” information regarding the accident. It reported that individuals at the Mehrabad airport’s control tower had talked of “other issues” relating to the crash that had not been made public. The newspaper reported that it would withhold publishing the information until the investigation takes it course and publishes its findings. ”Should the case not be thoroughly followed up and the responsible individuals identified and punished, as has been the case in the past, then Hamshahri shall carry out its professional responsibility without any reservations.”

The warning issued by the Ejeyi comes at a time when there are reports that some of the names of individuals killed in the air crash have not been publicly announced, adding further suspicion and mystery to the flight and the incident. The names of only 69 passengers and crew of the plane have been made public, while the number of total people on board had officially been reported to be 94. READ MORE

The deputy Surgeon General tried to clarify the discrepancy when he announced that no family members had come forward to identify and pick up 6 bodies belonging to the air crash. He speculated that these may have been by standers on ground that were hit by the plane or its debris. This is contradictory to the fact that the building which the plane hit is located in a community, known as Shahrak Tohid, that is exclusively reserved for the military and their families, thus making the presence of any “by-standers” or unknown individuals impossible. Newspapers have asked about the identity of those “unidentified” individuals and whether they were on board the plane or not.

On his return from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was bombarded with questions about the air crash, to which he called on the press to remain calm until the investigation completed its work. When asked whether the president would pursue the issue, the president promised that the issue would be on the agenda of his cabinet until a final report. When asked about the previous air crash and absence of a final report on it, the president responded, “In many parts of the world the lessons learned from an air crash of obsolete aircraft are used for the development and maintenance of new aircraft.”

Former Majlis Speaker and a presidential candidate who has since joined the ranks of critics of the ruling circles of the Islamic Republic also criticized the position of the authorities. He mentioned the previous C-130 crash, also belonging to the military with military personnel on board, and contended that then too the military would not let us hold a meeting with the surviving dependants to explain the details of the accident. “And with the word ‘they are our personnel,’ they denied us that opportunity,” Karubi criticized.

In last week’s crash, on insistence from the press, the military revealed that its public relations Deputy Minister too had been killed in the accident. This is the first time that military and political officials are officially attributing an air accident to US sanctions. Such assertions by others were always denied in the past. Three days after the crash, former president Mohammad Khatami named the US as the ultimate responsible party for the crash because of its ban on the sale of aircraft spare parts to Iran since and because of the hostage taking event of 1979.

Amir Hossein Mahdavi writing in Sharq newspaper reported that since the days the US imposed its sanctions against Iran under which any aircraft or their parts which have more than 10 percent of US manufactured pieces are banned from being sold to Iran, the country has turned to Europeans and the Russians to meet its needs. But Airbus too has refrained from directly selling to Iran because more than 10 percent of its aircraft have US components. Russian aircraft, while not subject to the sanctions, are recognized to be of inferior quality in the air industry.

But Reza Talayinik, a Majlis (Parliament) representative, questioned this reasoning, as did Emad Afrough, another representative. Talayinik said that international agreements did not allow a state to prevent the sale of spare parts to commercial and even military aircraft because of political considerations, such as sanctions. He revealed that among the causes of the air crash are spare parts and technical problems before the flight, the ambiguities of the control tower in guiding the plane, and the possibility of finding a forced landing spot other than the airport.

The events at the control tower seem to be the ones mentioned by Hamshahri newspaper which it has warned it may publish.