Ortagus said that Iran is still the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. REUTERS
The Trump administration is going to diplomatically and economically isolate the Iranian regime until they “behave like a normal nation,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Saturday. After previously denying responsibility for the tragedy, Iranian officials acknowledged that they had accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane which crashed earlier this week.
All 176 people aboard the plane were killed, Fox News wrote. The aircraft, which was heading to Kyiv, was hit just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on two military bases housing U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq.
Those attacks were in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike in Baghdad.
Read also Anger in Iran after Tehran admits it accidentally shot down Ukrainian plane (Photo, video) Appearing on “Fox & Friends: Weekend” with hosts Dean Cain, Pete Hegseth, and Lisa Boothe, Ortagus said it’s important to remember that Iran had denied their culpability “very ferociously in Russian media as well.”
“So, there has been a lot of disinformation going on,” she said, noting that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had called Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif a “propagandist of the highest order.” Ortagus told the “Friends: Weekend” co-hosts that Iran is still the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
She said while everything the administration is dealing with as it relates to Iran is bigger than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), President Trump hopes the countries who remain signatories will heed his call to withdraw from the “fundamentally flawed deal.”
“This administration has made our position known over the past year and a half that we think that the JCPOA did not contain Iranian adventurism throughout the Middle East,” she said.
In a news conference on Friday, Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced newly implemented economic sanctions on Iran in a continuation of their “maximum pressure campaign.”
“Many people are asking us: what is our strategy post the Qassem Soleimani killing and post the ballistic missile attack on the United States,” Ortagus stated. “This is our strategy.”
“We are diplomatically and economically isolating the regime in Iran until they behave like a normal nation. And now, thanks to our colleagues at the Department of Defense, we have seen military deterrence restored as well,” she said.
(C)UNIAN 2020
Iran is just the junior partner. Why not go after the organ-grinder as well as the monkey?
I can think of a country that requires isolation and sanctions far more than Iran.
Dear Ukrainians!
I just had a phone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Ruhani.
He makes his official apology to the entire Ukraine and relatives of those deceased and admits the fact that Iran had shot down a Ukrainian Boeing-737.
Now I want and finally be able to tell you in detail about all the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, beginning from the tragic morning of January 8.
Immediately after the plane crash, the emergency response center of the National Security and Defence Council has been created and began its work.
The ambassador and consul of Ukraine in Iran arrived at the scene at Imam Khomeini International Airport.
An extraordinary government meeting was held to decide to create and deploy a search and rescue group to Iran.
It included 45 experts from the State Aviation Service, the National Bureau of Aviation Investigation and Civil Incidents, representatives from the National Security Council, Security Service of Ukraine, State Emergency Service, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ukrainian International Airlines.
We have sent country’s best specialists with extensive expertise.
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine appealed to Iran, Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom to create an international investigative team.
On January 9, at 3:30, our search and rescue team arrived in Tehran and began working on the site of the disaster in 2 hours.
I had a conversation with the President of Iran regarding a clear and full interaction with our experts. They got access to fragments of the aircraft, flight recorders, radar records and flight operations officers at the flight control center.
In the morning of January 9, the Secretary of the National Security Council voiced 4 major versions, including the possibility of a Ukrainian plane being hit by a missile.
For prompt identification of the bodies, the DNA tests of the relatives were taken. including the relatives of a flight attendant, who reside on the temporarily occupied territory.
I had consultations with our international partners – the Prime Ministers of Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Presidents of Iran and Afghanistan, and have underlined the need for joint actions to investigate the circumstances of this tragedy.
Earlier this evening, statements from US, Canadian and UK leaders about the alleged downing of Ukraine’s Boeing were aired.
We urged all our international partners to provide data that would confirm this version.
We worked systematically, without hysteria for one thing – to achieve the result, specifically to find out the truth about the circumstances of the plane crash.
On January 10, I had a conversation with Secretary of State of the United States of America Michael Pompeo, I also had a meeting with US Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine Christina Quinn who provided me with important and useful for investigation information.
Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Melinda Simmons also provided important information.
I want to мspeak in praise about the work of Ukrainian experts in Iran.
They have worked and continue to work dedicatedly, diligently and night and day. Their high professionalism and promptness, convincing preliminary findings and evidence found in Tehran did not allow to hide the truth.
And today the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran has acknowledged the fact of the crash of the Ukrainian plane and admitted their fault in the plane crash.
Undoubtedly this is also due to the support of international partners and the stubborn position of the international community. For this I express my sincere gratitude to the leaders of the USA, Canada, Great Britain, other countries, international organizations – on behalf of the Ukrainian people.
Now a group of Ukrainian experts is continuing their work.
A series of steps still needs to be taken to complete the investigation.
They are currently trying to restore the plane.
Returning to the conversation with the President of Iran.
We agreed that he shall order to finish identifying the bodies of those deceased and prepare them to be returned to Ukraine as soon as possible in cooperation with Ukrainian experts.
This should happen in the nearest future.
We also agreed to start working on deciphering two aircraft cockpit voice recorders.
We have agreed on full legal and technical cooperation, including the issue of compensation.
We agreed that no one will get out of this.
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine initiated a criminal case on the murder of Ukrainian citizens.
The Government will provide financial assistance to the families of the victims.
The country will also make every effort to obtain compensation from the airline, insurance companies and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
I call on all our international partners of Ukraine, the entire world community, to stay united and persistent until the full and final investigation into all the circumstances of this disaster. We all need it.
For the sake of a man who needs to feel safe in this turbulent world – on earth, water or in the air.
Because a man and his life must be of the highest value to any government, any state, any politician.
Dear Ukrainians!
In these difficult days for everyone, I want to say the following.
I will return all those deceased to their families and friends, they will be able to say goodbye. We honor their memory.
All those guilty shall carry punishment.
We will give back to not only a sense of security and justice to the Ukrainians but also the assurance that Ukraine will always protect you in any corner of the plane.
Speech of Zelensky, President of Ukraine.