CIA official & orchestrator of Soleimani's death, killed in US military plane crash: Iran

Amid hostility between Iran and US, Tehran claimed on Tuesday that a top CIA chief, Michael D’ Andrea, who was responsible for orchestrating IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani's assassination was killed in the Afghan plane crash. Washington, however, has not commented on the emerging reports, that was confirmed by Iran. International reports cited Russian intelligence over the claim, while it is contended that the news emerging from Iran Front Page News is known to be pro-Kremlin.

The armed group Taliban took responsibility for the downing of the US plane in Afghanistan's Ghazni, a territory controlled by the militant group. In a statement released on Monday, Taliban notified that everyone on board was killed, including the high-ranking officials. "An aircraft of American occupiers has crashed in Ghazni province," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a Pashto-language statement, adding that all the crew members onboard had been killed. 

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While the US military confirmed the crashing of one of its plane in the Eastern Afghan province on January 27, it has disputed the claims that it was shot down by a rival. "While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire," US military spokesman said. The US Army has still not revealed the number of passengers in the downed plane. The plane crash comes even as the Trump administration and the Taliban are struggling to revive a possible agreement, that would see the US troops leaving Afghanistan and ending the long-war. In September last year, Donald Trump had abruptly declared that the peace negotiation with the Taliban was 'dead.'

Who is Michael D’ Andrea?

As per reports, the intel officer, who supposedly joined the CIA in 1979, was given the nickname 'Ayatollah Mike' for his Iran operations. Michael D’Andrea headed the intel operations against Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan for the US and was also involved in the hunt for Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was dramatically killed inside a compound in Pakistan in May 2011. He purpotedly oversaw CIA's counter-terror operations, detentions, interrogation and even the alleged torture programs. In 2017, New York Times reported that the Trump administration had appointed him to run operations against Iran. Donald Trump had called Iran “the number one terror state” and recently directed to kill the second most important man of the country--Qassem Soleimani, triggering a global outrage. 

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