Report: Rouhani Threatened to Resign after IRGC Covered up Downing of Ukrainian Plane

For three days, Iranian military officials knew they had shot down a Ukrainian jetliner while the government issued false statements, denying any responsibility in the January 8 crash, The New York Times reported.

Iran had just fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at American forces, the country was on high alert for an American counterattack, and the Iranian military was warning of incoming cruise missiles.

The officer tried to reach the command center for authorization to shoot but couldn’t get through. So he fired an antiaircraft missile. Then another.

The plane, which turned out to be a Ukrainian jetliner with 176 people on board, crashed and exploded in a ball of fire.

President Hassan Rouhani’s government was publicly denying that the plane had been shot down because Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were covering it up. When they finally told him, he gave them an ultimatum: come clean or he would resign, The New York Times said.

Only then, 72 hours after…