Jim Stone, Freelance Journalist

Final summary of the Iran shoot down of Ukra(i)nian jet

This report has changed a lot as new info has come in. The info is complete enough so it likely won't change again. Here is what happened:

Two minutes after take off, the transponder, communications, and lights on the aircraft were shut off, obviously via remote. It flew in this hacked configuration for approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds before, in error, Iranian ground forces mistook it for a cruise missile and shot it down, with Iran's top nuclear physicists aboard. The plane was sent out during a no fly order to get the most important people (and their families) out of Iran before a war broke out, which Iran was expecting.

The only question in this story now is who interfered with communications between the airport, the military, and the pilots, who went dark for a considerable length of time before the missiles were launched. Approximately 1 minute after the first missile was launched, a second one was launched though the first one probably would have downed the plane despite it not being on fire. Eight minutes after take off, it crashed.

My guess is Israel is the one that hacked the plane and shut the transponder, lights and radios off to force it to fly completely dark, the way a cruise missile would. They are the only ones celebrating.

As corrupt as Ukraine is, Iran SHOULD NOT turn over the black boxes until they have at least copied what is on the cockpit voice recorder. If whatever is reported to have come off that voice recorder does not mimic what I just said above, the wrong people will have "analyzed it", you know, like how accurately American votes get counted.