This whole mess shows a problem Iran has had for sometime. Revolutionary Guard, Military and civilian authorities and none of them communicate with each other good. Especially the RG is something like a state of its own.
Glad to hear iran confessed up. The threat of a US attack by the most powerful military on earth gave them the war jitters. Natural and predictable . Just a horrible accident .
America should start a wall on the Canadian border to protect us from the livid Maple Leaf Foods CEO. When you go to a terrorist nation like Iran, these are the risks you take.
PATRIOT is only assigned in general to Corps sized headquarters when actually in the field. But no, there were no PATRIOT Battalions anywhere near where the Iranian missiles struck.
And like this, it was a civilian airliner that knew it was flying in-through a conflict area. However, this time it can not blame the US (although it did try). In the first case, it was in an area where active fighting had been carried out for several years. And it was in the air at the same time as both an Iranian F-14 and a P-3 had been making hostile moves in the area. And only hours after several incidents with Iranian naval vessels. But that is a far cry from shooting down an airliner that just took off moments before from your own airport.