“Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655. Never threaten the Iranian nation.”
President Hassan Rouhani — Tweet (January 6 2020)
“The accidental shoot-down of Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988 convinced Khomeini to accept the ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War. It has long been suspected that the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie five months later was Iran’s revenge. Rouhani seems to be taking responsibility.”
Kyle Orton — Terrorism expert (January 6 2020)
Hassan Rouhani is an Iranian politician serving as the current and seventh President of Iran since 3 August 2013.
On January 6 2020, Hassan Rouhani — the current President of Iran since 3 August 2013 — tweeted a cryptic message that Middle experts have interpreted as the first admission ever by a senior figure that Iran was responsible for Lockerbie. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
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On January 6 2020, President Hassan Rouhani tweeted the following message:
“Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655. Never threaten the Iranian nation.”
This tweet was a response to President Donald Trump’s threat to target 52 sites in Iran should it retaliate against the US drone strike that killed top Iranian military figure General Qassem Soleimani on January 3 2020.
Not surprisingly, Rouhani’s message was quickly commented on by Middle East and Lockerbie experts as well as by imbeciles and hypocrites.
Real Experts —
Middle East analyst Fatima Alasrar, from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, was one of the first to indicate the link between Rouhani’s tweet and Lockerbie.
“Rouhani is basically reminding @realDonaldTrump of the #Iranian Air Flight 655 carrying 290 passengers which was downed by a US navy warship the Vincennes in 1988.
Though it was deemed a human error, Tehran worked covertly to exact its revenge.
How? Lockerbie.”
Robert Black — Professor Emeritus of Scots Law in the University of Edinburgh and best known as the architect of the Lockerbie Trial– concurs.
Speaking to The National as Iran continued to mourn Soleimani, Black said:
“I think Rouhani’s tweet does refer to Pan Am 103 … The 290 clearly refers to those killed on Iran Air 655 and with ‘Never threaten the Iranian nation’ it seems to me that he’s saying that Iran responded to those Iranian deaths caused by US action.
The only response that I can think of was the bombing of Pan Am 103 six months later.”
Imbeciles and hypocrites —
Given half a chance, idiots will never miss the opportunity to share with you their “deep knowledge” on sensitive issues. The current Iran Crisis is a case in point.
Describing himself as an expert on terrorism strategy with 36 years of services in the US Intel Community, Malcolm Nance tweeted:
“PANAM 103 was DEFINATELY Qaddafi Libya. We found the same Swiss digital detonators were purchased by Libyan intelligence and were also used on the UTA 772 in flight bombing. No question. Iran had nothing to do with it.”
Here is a quick primer for this “expert”. Firstly, no detonators were recovered, let alone identified, among the debris of PA 103 and UTA 772.
Secondly, the timer that allegedly triggered the bomb on UTA 772 was produced in Taiwan, not Switzerland.
Thirdly, we know now that PT/35(b) — a fragment of an PCB allegedly found at Lockerbie — does NOT match the metallurgy of the Swiss timers — MST13 — delivered to Libya. Full Stop.
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This incident has also exposed once again the hypocrisy of some people working in the sphere of the US Intel community. I have already discussed the case of former CIA director Mike Morell.
In December 2018, Mark Zaid — the guy who rose to fame a few months ago as the lawyer of the CIA ‘whistleblower’ whose complaint started the impeachment against Trump — called me a conspiracy theorist because I regard the Lockerbie verdict as absolute nonsense.
Reacting to the news of Rouhani’s tweet, Zaid quickly posted the following message:
“July 3, 1988, US Navy accidentally downed Iran Air Flt 655 killing 290 people.
Dec 21, 1988, #PanAm103 bombed murdering 270 people. Official theory is #Libya responsible but many still suspect Iranian retaliation/involvement. Foreshadowing?”
It is almost funny how this national security lawyer can adapt his truth to a new environment. What is Zaid going to do now? Sue Iran for another US$3 billion? Good luck with that…
Intel Today Analysis —
There is no doubt whatsoever that Rouhani makes a direct reference to the 290 victims of Iranian Air Flight 655.
His warning “Never threaten the Iranian nation” appears to be a veiled threat suggesting that Iran will retaliate for Soleimani’s assassination just like they did in the case of Iranian Air Flight 655.
Assuming that this is indeed what Rouhani means, then it seems logical to conclude that he is claiming Iran’s responsibility for the downing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.
Actually, it is not the first time that a high level Iranian cleric claims responsibility for Lockerbie.
Indeed, when I spoke to Bani Sadr — who served as the first president of the Republic of Iran — he told me that ayatollah Motashemi-pur had immediately taken credit for the Lockerbie bombing which he regarded as a “just revenge” for Flight 655.
However…
Let me say this one more time. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Lockerbie verdict is utter nonsense.
Megrahi — the man known as the Lockerbie bomber — clearly suffered a spectacular miscarriage of justice.
In fact, the analysis of the fragment that linked Libya to Lockerbie demonstrates that the Swiss timers delivered to Libya played no role in the tragedy.
This is, in my opinion, the only reasonable conclusion that an honest person can reach.
However, to many observers, the innocence of Megrahi — and Libya — can only point to the guilt of Iran.
I can not agree with such a flawed logic, for it may very well replace a 30 years old lie by a new one, which would be quite convenient to certain groups today as it would suit very well their geopolitical agenda.
Evidence?
Is there any evidence linking Tehran to Lockerbie?
In the fall of 1988, a terrorist cell of the PFLP-GC — based in Frankfurt, Germany — was preparing an attack against airliners, including Pan Am.
Although, most of them were arrested at the end of October, it is possible that some members managed to escape.
RELATED POST: On This Day — Operation Autumn Leaves (Germany — October 26 1988) [UPDATE 2019]
One of the five bombs they had built was hidden in a Toshiba radio. The media reported that this device — very similar to the one that allegedly destroyed PA 103 — was never recovered.
Moreover, it has also been reported that Iran wired a large sum of money to Ahmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC in the days following the Lockerbie bombing.
This would be rather convincing as circumstantial evidence if it was not for the fact that these allegations are pure pieces of disinformation.
Over the last two decades, I have investigated the Lockerbie Case. Among other things, I managed to tracked the so-called Iran payment, and I can state with confidence that this transaction has nothing to do whatsoever with Lockerbie.
RELATED POST: Lockerbie — “Till Truth Do Us Part” [The Legend of the Iranian Payment]
I was also able to uncover the origin of the “fifth device” fairy tale. There is no doubt that this story was fabricated by a crackpot and published by an irresponsible journalist.
RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Who Is The Mysterious GOLFER? [Part I : Trust No One]
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Let me make this point very clear. There is not a shred of evidence that Iran ordered the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie as an act of retaliation for Iran Air 655.
And there is a good reason for that which I will reveal today.
In the aftermath of Flight 655 disaster, the US and Iran conducted a series of secret talks in the city of Montreux, Switzerland. Richard Lawless was representing Bush and Abolghasem Mesbahi was an envoy of Rafsanjani.
By the end of September 1988 — 3 months before Lockerbie — they managed to settle an agreement.
None of this has ever been made public for obvious reasons. It would have been perceived as a second IranGate scandal.
RELATED POST: THE FULLER MEMORANDUM – May 1985. Why it still matters today
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So, what really happened?
The Lockerbie investigation underwent three separated stages. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the American and British investigators quickly identified the cause of the tragedy as well as those responsible for it.
However, both Bush and Thatcher agreed that the truth was inconvenient.
From early January 1989 to March 1989, US and UK Intelligence agencies were busy writing a script implicating Iran.
That was not a very difficult task considering that very realistic but false “means, motive, and opportunity” could easily be wowen into a rather believable story.
Basically, the events of the “Autumn Leaves” operation — the PFLP-GC cell operating in Frankfurt — became a blueprint for the script. Thus all the key items appear at this stage: brown Samsonite, clothes from Malta, Toshiba radio, Semtex, Frankfurt, etc…
But in March 1989, George H. W. Bush and Margaret Thatcher decided to hold off this game plan.
Why? Remember that the US is in secret talks with Rafsanjani and the future seems promising.
Ayatollah Khomeini is dying and his hardliner heir — Grand Ayatollah Montazeri — has been sacked on March 26 1989.
Khomeini died on June 3rd 1989. Ali Khamenei was elevated from the position of hojatoleslām to the rank of Ayatollah.That title, and a modification of the Constitution which previously restricted the job to the few people such Montazeri who had the title of Grand Ayatollah, was then enough to promote him as Khomeini’s successor.
Next, Rafsanjani himself was elected Iran’s president on August 3rd 1989.
By September 1989, blaming Iran for Lockerbie would no longer have served the geopolitical interests of the US and UK.
And lo and behold, in September 1989, the investigation entered stage 3 and switched away from Iran to solely focus on Libya thanks to the mysterious ‘discovery’ of a tiny circuit board known as PT/35(b). The rest is History…
And now?
In a recent document (dated December 9 2019) seen by Intel Today, Gerard Sinclair — the Chief Executive of the SCCRC [Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission] — states that he is hopeful that a final decision will be reached before the end of this financial year, which is the end of March 2020.
Intel Today is reasonably confident that the SCCRC will find that there may have been a miscarriage of justice, for the six reasons specified by their predecessors in 2007 and also on at least some of the further additional grounds advanced since then.
RELATED POST: Lockerbie (December 21 1988) — Will 2020 be the Year of the Truth?
If the SCCRC recommend a new trial, the infamous Zeist verdict does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving.
This should be the very top priority. Once Megrahi is acquitted and the Lockerbie-Libya fiction is erased once and for all, then the time will be right to investigate the true cause of disaster and reveal the identity of the culprits. It is not very hard at all…
PS — Most Intel Today readers (91%) believe that the Lockerbie verdict is a spectacular miscarriage of justice. I understand that a similar poll among Scotland lawyers would be even more devastating. Truth never dies.
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REFERENCES
Hassan Rouhani’s tweet indicates Iran was to blame for Lockerbie — The National
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Lockerbie — Has Iran President Just Admitted Responsibility?
Intel Today 
I guess that leaves Qaddafi off the hook. Just a little too late.
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No he has not.
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The culprits in the lockerbie case are as Mr M. M. Charles of the AAIB for submitting a fraudulent report on the aircraft accident report.
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