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The fact that the crowds at his funeral are the largest since the death of Khomenei says it all.

Do you think they were on a heightened defense footing, preparing for US counterstrikes, and hadn't gotten notified about a civilian airliner in the air space? I can't see them intentionally doing this.

I felt similar but without the anti-US rhetoric.

Appeals court approves border wall funding

We did not intentionally down a passenger jet.

US Officials "Highly Confident" Iran Accidentally Shot Down Ukrainian Jet

U.S. OFFICIALS ARE NOW CONFIDENT UKRAINE AIRLINER WAS SHOT DOWN BY IRANIAN MISSILE, CITING SATELLITE DATA -GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

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I felt similar but without the anti-US rhetoric.

Are you denying that it happened or are you defending the downing of the Iranian passenger jet?

Do you think they were on a heightened defense footing, preparing for US counterstrikes, and hadn't gotten notified about a civilian airliner in the air space? I can't see them intentionally doing this.

I can say this about Iran and feel no need to point out something that the US did a long time ago. There is no need to add your bit of anti-Americanism. It has nothing to do with this event.

I can say this about Iran and feel no need to point out something that the US did a long time ago.

There is no need to add your bit of anti-Americanism. It has nothing to do with this event.

For years, they urged America to take a harder line on Iran, dissed its decision to ink a nuclear deal with Tehran and cheered when a tough-talking Donald Trump won the presidency.

Now, America’s closest Middle East allies are practically ducking for cover.

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In recent days, as the U.S. killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iran fired back with a missile barrage in Iraq, Gulf Arab states and Israel were expressing second thoughts about what they’d helped unleash.

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Saudi officials called for “restraint” to avoid “aggravating the situation.” The United Arab Emirates stressed “the importance of dialogue and political solutions.” Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who publicly praised Trump’s decision to take out Soleimani, privately told aides that the killing “isn’t an Israeli event but an American event” according to Israeli media accounts. “We were not involved and should not be dragged into it.”

These U.S. partners’ caution is remarkable given their past calls for America to “cut off the head of the snake” in Tehran, including by attacking Iranian nuclear sites.

It reflects pointed Iranian threats — and the recognition that a war could upend their economies and threaten their governments. But it also reflects uncertainty about whether the famously fickle Trump will stand by them in the long run.

“It’s a reality check,” said Kristin Diwan, an analyst with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

An Arab official stressed that while Riyadh and others sought a hard U.S. line, they’ve never pushed for war. “We’re thinking about ourselves,” the official said. “Iran has been a destabilizing force in the Middle East, but they are still a neighbor we have to live with.”

How is everyone taking the news that Iran shot down that Ukrainian airliner.

How is everyone taking the news that Iran shot down that Ukrainian airliner?

Video sent to CNN appears to show a missile fired into the Tehran sky early Wednesday morning and striking an object in the sky. Around that time, a Ukranian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff.

CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the video, but the buildings seen in it appears similar to ones that are in the Iranian capitol suburb of Parand.