Originally Posted by
Water pilot
There was also the minor matter of Iran having just challenged a nuclear armed superpower, so people were out and about looking for incoming and outgoing missile/jet trails (and perhaps not wanting to risk being burned alive inside of their apartments.)
Another possibility for the accident to put out there is that the ground crew were nervous (and perhaps exhausted from the funeral/protest), the pilots wanted to get out while the getting was good, and the plane needed to be deiced. It would not be surprising if people were rushing and made a mistake somewhere.
Indeed. Not only would Iran's SAM defences been on edge at the time, is it not highly likely that the US would have been overhead watching what was happening?
Perhaps the SAM was intended for a US military spy plane?
It might suit both sides to conceal the cause.