Jeremy Corbyn likens killing of ‘terrorist’ Soleimani to the downing of passenger plane which killed 176 innocent people

JEREMY Corbyn has today compared the killing of “terrorist” Qasem Soleimani to the massacre of 176 plane passengers.

The Labour Leader, who in the past has taken cash from Iranian-backed Press TV, made the comments at a “No War With Iran” rally in London.

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Corbyn, who last month presided over his party’s biggest election defeat in decades, spoke about the downing of the Ukrainian passenger jet in Iran after Tehran finally admitted responsibility for the disaster this morning.

The Islington North MP called the massacre, caused by a surface-to-air missile, an "appalling act" before likening it to the death of Iranian general Soleimani, branded a "terrorist mastermind" by the US, who was killed by a US drone strike on January 3.

He said: "Today let's recognise the horror that the families of those that died in the airliner travelling from Tehran to the Ukraine are suffering from now.

"Let's be clear there can be no excuses here. This is an appalling act and part of a whole pattern of appalling acts all across the region.

"There's no excuse for shooting down an airliner, there's no excuse for a targeted assassination by one state against another.

"All this does is set off a spiral of violence and danger which will lead us to yet more wars in the future."

There's no excuse for shooting down an airliner, there's no excuse for a targeted assassination by one state against another

Jeremy Corbyn

The on Tuesday in the outskirts of Tehran, hours after Iran launched a barrage of rockets against US targets in Iraq in response to the assassination of Soleimani.

And now, after repeated denials, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has admitted his forces gunned down the civilian aircraft because they mistook it for an American fighter plane.

In a statement, he brazenly blamed the "aggressive" US for the "catastrophic mistake" which killed 176 people.

Iran's acknowledgement of responsibility for the crash is likely to inflame public sentiment against authorities following Soleimani's killing last week.

The general, who Donald Trump dubbed "the world's top terrorist", was killed days after Iran-backed militias attacked the US embassy in Iraqi capital Baghdad.

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