“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)

January 10 2021 — On January 6 2020, Hassan Rouhani — the current President of Iran since 3 August 2013 — tweeted a cryptic message that Middle-East experts have interpreted as the first admission ever by a senior figure that Iran was responsible for Lockerbie. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

RELATED POST: LOCKERBIE — Analysis of the New Indictment [Intel Today Conclusions]

“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)

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 by Middle East and Lockerbie 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.”

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. [Note 1]

What about the evidence linking Iran to pan Am 103?

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 complete 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 high-confidence that this transaction has nothing to do whatsoever with Lockerbie. [By the way, both the FBI and the SCCRC have come to same conclusion.]

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]

RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Who Is The Mysterious GOLFER? — Part II : “Whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” [UPDATE]

RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Who Is The Mysterious GOLFER? [Part III : Unmasking The Devil]

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 by the way, a few years ago, I was contacted by a respected journalist who writes for a conservative newspaper in Jerusalem. He wanted to know if I had found any evidence linking Iran to Pan Am 103. I told him that there was none.

A few weeks later, he came back to me. He had called his many contacts in the intelligence services, and the conclusion was clear. Israel Intelligence Community has never found any evidence linking Ahmed Jibril (PFLP-GC), Syria and/or Iran to the Lockerbie disaster.

A personal story about the infamous 5th device

A decade ago, I was given possession of a 98 Gigabyte file regarding the Lockerbie case.

As I wrote above, while researching the identity of GOLFER, I discovered that the story of the “fifth device” was a fairy tale.

But, make no mistake. This has not been an easy discovery. Far from it…

While I was researching every single Lockerbie investigator who had been seconded in Germany, I realized something quite astonishing.

Someone had erased one file — and just one single short file — among literally a zillion of documents.

That missing document caught my attention. Why would anyone would want this file to disappear? This mystery piqued my interest…

So, I managed to obtain this document and the conclusion was abundantly obvious.

The story of the fifth device had been fabricated by people who wanted to create a plausible link between Iran and Pan Am 103.

They almost fooled me. Almost…

PS — 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 Iran-Gate scandal.

Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!

QUICK NOTES — To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of my book, I have created a special page  “Lockerbie” where all the links to the chapters will be listed with a brief description. You can access that page directly as it appears at the far right of the top bar of this blog.

On March 11 2020, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission [SCCRC] decided to refer the Lockerbie case back to the High Court of Justiciary for determination. As a result of the Commission’s decision, Mr. Megrahi’s family was therefore entitled to instruct an appeal against his conviction. 

The first procedural hearing took place on Friday August 21 2020. The Appeal started on November 24 2020 and ended 3 days later. The five judges will now produce a written submission as soon as practicable.

RELATED POST: Lockerbie Third Appeal — Day 1 (November 24 2020)

RELATED POST: Lockerbie Third Appeal — Day 2 (November 25 2020)

RELATED POST: Lockerbie Third Appeal — Day 3 (November 26 2020)

Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!

REFERENCES

Hassan Rouhani’s tweet indicates Iran was to blame for Lockerbie — The National

Note 1 — The Lockerbie conspiracy theorists who claim that Tehran ordered the destruction of PA 103 have found a new poster boy!

“As a former CIA operations officer, I am breaking 20 years of silence about one of the most heinous plane bombings on record, Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988.

I can now tell you, as I have been telling the CIA and FBI since being interviewed by them in early 2000, that I and many other intelligence officers do not believe that Libya is responsible for the bombing. Iran, as the original evidence clearly showed, is the true perpetrator of this deadly attack and should be brought to justice.”

This nonsensical article by John Holt was recently published on the website of The Times of Israel…

You only have to read the conclusion of this piece to understand the reason of these lies.

“I urge President Trump to bring Iranian religious leadership to justice for the Pan Am 103 bombing now. The US and Israel should work together to strike key Iranian military facilities, IRGC training camps and all nuclear development sites, both open and secret, before Iran gathers enough strength to strike again, which they will.”

The people who write and propagate this nonsense should be investigated and locked away.

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One Year Ago — Has Iran President Just Admitted Responsibility for Lockerbie? [A personal story about the infamous 5th device]