Iran - US Tensions

Iran’s military acknowledged early Saturday that it had launched the missiles that brought down a Ukraine International Airlines jet near the Iranian capital on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. The disaster unfolded amid escalating tensions with the United States over the killing of a revered Iranian commander, Major General Qassim Suleimani. For the first three days after the crash, Iran denied that it had shot the plane down; the Iranian authorities insisted that the jetliner had gone down for mechanical reasons, and refused to cooperate with investigators. But then, as the uproar mounted, Iranian leaders admitted that they had shot the aircraft down, citing human error. We are joined by: • Kwezi Mngqibisa is General Manager: Political and Policy Advisor at the African Centre for the Constructive Resolutions of Disputes (ACCORD)• Na’eem Jeenah is the Executive Director at the Afro Middle East Centre • Prof. Jo-Ansie van Wyk, political sciences department at the University of South Africa