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Moscow demanded Thursday that the U.S. back up its claims — that Russian missiles were mistakenly dropped in Iran — with facts and hard evidence. The Russian government also blasted CNN for distributing information by citing anonymous sources.
“Unlike CNN, we don’t distribute information citing anonymous sources, but show the very missile launches and the way they hit their targets almost in real time,” the Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said, according to RT.
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The press official noted that Russia is photographing its targets before and after being hit, then offering themto the media for publication.
Konashenkov also said Russian drones are monitoring the airstrikes from Syrian skies 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Kremlin also demanded the U.S. back up its claims of missiles landing in Iran with evidence.
According to Reuters, U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby said he couldn't confirm CNN's report, while Iran's Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti they had “no information of Russian missiles crashing on Iranian territory.”
CNN had cited two unnamed U.S. officials as having said four Russian missiles, launched Wednesday from warships in the Caspian, had landed in Iran. They told the broadcaster, “some buildings were damaged and civilians may have been hurt.”
Konashenkov said the accuracy of the strikes may have been, “unpleasant and surprising for our colleagues in the Pentagon.”
“Otherwise one would have to acknowledge that IS facilities – located at a considerable distance from each other – exploded all by themselves,” Konashenkov added.
On Wednesday, four Russian naval warships fired 26 missiles at Islamic State targets in Syria. All targets were hit, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.
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Konashenkov took the opportunity to lash out at a statement from Pentagon chief Ashton Carter, who had predicted Russian losses in the U.S.’s Syrian operation.
“In their assessments of the U.S. military’s actions in various operations conducted by them all over the world, the Russian Defense Ministry has never stooped to publicly speaking of expectations of the deaths of American soldiers” Konashenkov said.
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He also said that Carters’ words demonstrate the degree of cynicism among “some of the representatives” of the current U.S. government.
Russia began airstrikes in Syria Sept. 30 on Islamic State group targets at the request of the Syrian government. Since then, the Russian military has destroyed over 100 terrorist targets, including command posts, ammunition depots, training camps and armored vehicles.
A few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the United States saying they began to report civilian deaths in Russian airstrikes even before they began.
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