Iran announces arrests over plane crash as Rouhani warns those responsible will be punished - CNN

Gholamhossein Esmaili, the spokesman for Iran's judiciary, was quoted by the semi-official FARS news agency Tuesday as saying that an investigation into the crash had started and several arrests had been made. He did not provide details on how many people had been arrested or what their roles in the incident may have been.

Speaking in Tehran on Tuesday, Rouhani called for the punishment of those behind the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752.

He said a special court with "a high-ranking judge and dozens of experts" should be established in order to investigate the incident. "This is not an ordinary case and all of world is looking at us," Rouhani said.

"I announce that we will do the follow up in order to detect all aspects of the event and punishing those responsible," the Iranian leader added.

After three days of denials, Iran admitted on Saturday that its military had mistakenly shot down the plane.

The admission sparked another wave of anti-government protests in Iran and appeared to expose a rift within the country's leadership.

While Tehran has rejected allegations that it tried to cover up the shooting down of the plane, the editor in chief of right-wing Tasnim news agency -- which is tied to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps -- criticized Iran's leaders for attempting to lie to the public.

Around 30 people have been arrested for taking part in the latest round of protests, according to Esmaili, who described them Tuesday as illegal rallies that had put national security at risk.

"The government is accountable and we will fulfill our legal responsibilities but most importantly the people should be assured that such an event should not take place again," Rouhani said, expressing sympathies for the families of the victims. He added that the public deserved to know the details about the cause of the crash.

Iran's main insurance agency said the damages that should be paid for the crash could amount to $150 million, Iran's Press TV reported Monday.

All 176 people on board were killed when the Kiev-bound flight was shot down shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital early last Wednesday.

The passengers and crew included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals, according to a tweet from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko.

Leaders of the countries whose citizens were killed also called for those responsible to be held accountable.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would ensure that "a full, transparent investigation is conducted."

"I want to assure all families and all Canadians -- we will not rest until there are answers. We will not rest until there is justice and accountability," Trudeau said at a vigil on Sunday.

The plane crash came shortly after Iran launched strikes on Iraqi bases housing US troops. Those strikes were retaliation after the US killed a top Iranian general on January 3.

Iran initially blamed a technical failure for the disaster. But as evidence mounted and western intelligence agencies started pointing fingers at Tehran, the government conceded the aircraft was shot down in an error.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed "human error" prompted by "US adventurism," alluding to the escalating brinkmanship between Iran and the United States over the US killing of a revered Iranian commander, Qasem Soleimani.

Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim reported Tuesday that Tehran is planning to file a criminal case against the US army, government and President Donald Trump in the international criminal court over Soleimani's death. According to Tasnim, Gholam Hossein Esmaeili, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, said that "there is no doubt that US military action was an act of terrorism."

"Trump personally has confessed ordering this criminal act and that is the strongest evidence that a court could have," Esmaeili said, according to the news agency.

Speaking at a news conference, Esmaeili also reportedly said the British ambassador to Tehran should be expelled from the country. It was unclear whether he was sharing his own opinion or if the Iranian government was moving ahead with the expulsion of ambassador Rob Macair.

Macair was briefly arrested in the middle of a crowd of protesters on Saturday in what the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab then called a "flagrant violation of international law."

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2020-01-14 11:51:00Z
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Iran says arrests made after downing of Ukrainian plane that killed 176 on board - The Washington Post

Atta Kenare Afp Via Getty Images An Iranian cleric walks past a poster honoring the victims of a Ukrainian passenger jet accidentally shot down in the capital last week, Jan 13, 2020.

ISTANBUL — Iran said Tuesday that arrests had been made in the downing of a Ukrainian plane that Tehran admitted was mistakenly intercepted, as the president called for a special court to investigate the crash that set off days of anti-government protests.

Gholamhossein Esmaili, a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, said Tuesday that “some individuals” had been arrested over the past three days after “extensive investigations,” but did not provide any detail about the identities of the suspects or say how many people had been detained.

The downing of the plane, which killed all 176 on board, last week occurred during a hair-trigger standoff between the United States and Iran, after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s powerful Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, earlier this month.

Tehran retaliated against the United States last Wednesday, firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at facilities in Iraq hosting U.S. troops.

[Iranians are furious at their regime. But Trump still bans them.]

In the hours after those attacks, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 with a surface-to-air missile, a move it blamed on “human error.” Listed among the dead were 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, including the crew. Most, if not all, of the Canadians were reported to be of Iranian origin or dual nationals.

Iranian officials initially denied reports that the plane was brought down but on Saturday admitted that the Revolutionary Guard, which maintains military bases in the area of the crash, had shot it down by mistake.

Over the next few days, protests flared on the streets of Tehran and other cities, led by students criticizing the missile strike and chanting rare denunciations of Iran’s leadership, forcing the government on the defensive.

In a speech on Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani addressed the crash at length, calling for a special court “with a high-ranking judge and dozens of experts” to investigate. “This is not a normal case and the whole world will follow the case in our court,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on his official website.

“Our people know that this accident was the result of an error and mistake, but who was involved and what circumstances led to the accident?” he said, directing blame in part at the United States, who he said had “inflamed the atmosphere and made the situation abnormal, threatened and took our loved ones from us.”

“All of this is true, but it does not mean that we should not address all the root causes of the incident,” he added. “It is not just the one who pressed the button, but rather there are others, and I want this matter to be explained to people honestly.” Rouhani also appeared to fault military leaders for waiting days to announce that the plane had been shot down, and urged the authorities “to explain to the public the whole process.”

Read more

Iranians protest for third day over downed airliner amid reports of gunfire by security forces

‘Four embassies’: The anatomy of Trump’s unfounded claim about Iran

U.S. commanders at al-Asad base believe Iranian missile barrage was designed to kill

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2020-01-14 11:09:00Z
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Residents urged not to return home as Philippines volcano continues to spew ash, lava fountains - CNN

The Taal Volcano, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of the capital Manila on the island of Luzon, began erupting on Sunday, sending ash up to nine miles (14 kilometers) into the air and prompting warnings of a possible "explosive eruption" and large-scale evacuations.

As of Tuesday, almost 20,000 people from Batangas and Cavite provinces have sought shelter in 118 temporary evacuation centers set up by authorities. The total number of evacuees is likely to be higher, with some choosing to stay with family members and relatives in other parts of the country.

Officials, however, said a number of residents were beginning to return to their homes close to the volcano to tend farms, livestock or fetch personal belongings.

Many people depend on the lake and land around the volcano for their livelihood. Their dilemma is whether to risk their lives by returning or their primary sources of income by staying in a shelter for an unknown period of time.

"If you were this person and think 'well all I know for sure is I have three cows, seven goats and some soy beans and I don't go back and take care of them, I know I'm screwed,' than someone telling you to stay away for two weeks and maybe nothing happens -- you're in trouble anyway," said Joseph Michalski, director of the Earth and Planetary Science division at the University of Hong Kong.

There are two concentric zones of concern around the volcano. Around 459,000 people reside within a dangerous zone within a 14-kilometer (8.6 miles) radius around the volcano, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), while more than 930,000 people live in a wider 17-kilometer (10.5 miles) danger zone.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has requested a "total evacuation" of everyone within the larger 17-kilometer (10.5 miles) radius around the volcano.

Mariton Bornas, chief of volcano monitoring and eruption at PHIVOLCS said residents within the immediate radius would be at risk of tremors, fissures and the threat of a sudden pyroclastic flow.

The institute recorded 335 earthquakes in the area of the volcano since Sunday and said more activity is expected in the next few days.

"These new strong, continuous earthquakes that we are now experiencing are due to fissuring, which means that there really is magma that is still making its way out of Taal," Bornas said.

"PHIVOCS strongly reiterates the need for the evacuation of Volcano Island, Taal Lake and the high-risk areas surrounding the volcano ... located within the immediate 14-kilometer radius from the main crater," she continued.

Eruption difficult to predict

Activity at the volcano continued through Tuesday. Lava fountains generated dark gray steam-laden plumes that reached 800 meters (2,624 feet) high, according to the institute. Volcanic lightening was also visible.

PHIVOLCS said that new vents had opened up on the volcano's northern flank and fresh ashfall had landed on nearby towns.

Photos from the eruption show ash mixing with rain, creating a thick black sludge that blanketed cars, streets, and homes in some towns. Ash is even heavier than snow, meaning excessive pile-ups, especially when mixed with rain, can cause roofs to collapse.

In a briefing with the media on Tuesday, PHIVOLCS director Renato Solidum said they cannot definitively tell when the eruptions will stop.

The alert level for the volcano remains at four, meaning an "explosive eruption" could happen in the coming hours or days. Its highest alert level is five, indicating an eruption is taking place.

But predicting what will happen, or when, is fraught with difficulty. When the Taal Volcano erupted in 1754 it lasted six months. The deadliest eruption took 1,335 lives in 1911, and it lasted a few days.

"There is no smoking gun or mathematic indicator of if a volcano erupts or when," said Michalski of Hong Kong University.

Signals that eruptions are imminent or that there is activity going on include the frequency, location and depth of earthquakes, the water temperature of the lake increasing, and gas released from cracks or fissures.

"All these things, these activity increases, tell you that -- man, I'm getting out of here. Something is happening. But none of this says exactly what will happen in exactly what time frame," Michalski continued.

Ghost towns filled with ash

Federal authorities are helping the response and evacuation operation. The army sent 20 military vehicles and 120 personnel to help affected residents, and the secretary of national defense said helicopters were on standby to evacuate people.

Aid organizations like the Red Cross are assisting on the ground by sending rescue vehicles and supplies.

Richard Gordon, Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross said evacuated areas look like "ghost towns" with houses "filled with ash."

"There's been some rain, many have collapsed already," Gordon said. "If you live in the area you'd probably be terrified."

In Batangas and Cavite towns, power is down due to heavy ash collecting on the electricity lines and there is no fresh water, Gordon said.

Evacuation centers include basketball courts, gyms and schools and are not designed for large-scale evacuations.

Red Cross teams on the ground are working to provide water tankers, ambulances, hot meal vans, and masks, as well as providing psychological support and setting up 70-bed wards in heavily affected areas to care for people with respiratory problems caused by the ash.

"The situation there is very dusty, and certainly it gets into your lungs and can create long-term damage," said Gordon. "We are advising people to close their windows with a damp cloth. People with respiratory illness or cardiovascular problems, they should move far away from the volcano to Manila or other provinces."

The ash fall has also damaged crops in the area such as corn and coffee, and continues to threaten fish stocks, said Agriculture Secretary William Dar. Batangas province supplies Metro Manila with 40% of its harvest of fish, including tawilis or "live sardines" only found in the province.

A potential eruption could also bring long-term consequences for the area's economy.

The volcano is surrounded by a lake, which is a popular attraction -- meaning many of the towns in the vicinity are tourism hot spots. There are several amusement parks, lakeside resorts and yacht clubs within the 17-kilometer zone.

The holiday town of Tagaytay, which lies close to the water's edge, is a popular getaway for Manila residents who often take boats onto the lake and hike up the volcano.

On Sunday, the volcanic ash spread as far as Quezon City north of Manila, prompting the suspension of all flights at the capital's international airport. By Tuesday, normal operations resumed, according to the airport's general manager Ed Monreal, though it's possible flights may be suspended again if Taal's activity increases.

The airport remains congested with people trying to get on flights, Monreal added.

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2020-01-14 10:49:00Z
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Iran plane downing: 'Several people detained' for shooting down airliner - BBC News

Several people have been detained in Iran over the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane with a missile, the country's judiciary says.

Spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said investigations into the incident were continuing, but provided no details.

President Hassan Rouhani said the probe would be overseen by a "special court".

Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752 was brought down shortly after taking off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.

Most were Iranian and Canadian citizens.

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For the first three days after the crash, Iran denied that its armed forces had shot down the plane and suggested there had been a technical failure.

But as evidence mounted, the Revolutionary Guards said the operator of a missile defence system had mistaken the aircraft for a US cruise missile and fired at it.

President Rouhani stressed that the "tragic event" should not be blamed only on the individual who "pulled the trigger".

"Iranian armed forces admitting their mistake is a good first step," he added. "We should assure people that it will not happen again."

Iran's air defences had been on the highest state of alert before the shooting because the country had just fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

The admission of responsibility provoked widespread anger in Iran and protesters took to the streets in the capital and several other cities to denounce its clerical rulers, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC on Tuesday that he was "glad" Iran had acknowledged making a "terrible mistake" in shooting down the plane.

"It's good that they've apologised. The most important thing now is that tensions in the region calm down," he added.

"I was in Oman just at the weekend, talking to people in the region and they don't want a military conflict between the West and Iran."

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Mr Johnson said the next step for Iran was to "repatriate in a dignified way" the bodies of the passengers and crew of flight PS752, who included three Britons.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Vadym Prystaiko, said on Monday that five of the countries that had citizens on board the airliner - Canada, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sweden and an unnamed country - would meet in London on Thursday to discuss possible legal action.

He said the "grieving nations" would work out what steps to take individually and collectively to "bring the perpetrators to justice and how we can repay those families who have suffered".

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2020-01-14 09:25:23Z
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Residents urged not to return home as Philippines volcano continues to spew ash, lava fountains - CNN

The Taal Volcano, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of the capital Manila on the island of Luzon, began erupting on Sunday, sending ash up to nine miles (14 kilometers) into the air and prompting warnings of a possible "explosive eruption" and large-scale evacuations.

As of Tuesday, almost 20,000 people from Batangas and Cavite provinces have sought shelter in 118 temporary evacuation centers set up by authorities. The total number of evacuees is likely to be higher, with some choosing to stay with family members and relatives in other parts of the country.

Officials, however, said a number of residents were beginning to return to their homes close to the volcano to tend farms, livestock or fetch personal belongings.

Many people depend on the lake and land around the volcano for their livelihood. Their dilemma is whether to risk their lives by returning or their livelihoods by staying in a shelter for an unknown period of time.

"If you were this person and think 'well all I know for sure is I have three cows, seven goats and some soy beans and I don't go back and take care of them, I know I'm screwed,' than someone telling you to stay away for two weeks and maybe nothing happens -- you're in trouble anyway," said Joseph Michalski, director of the Earth and Planetary Science division at the University of Hong Kong.

There are two concentric zones of concern around the volcano. Around 459,000 people reside within a dangerous zone with a 14-kilometer (8.6 miles) radius around the volcano, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), while more than 930,000 people live in a wider 17-kilometer (10.5 miles) danger zone.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has requested a "total evacuation" of everyone within the larger 17-kilometer (10.5 miles) radius around the volcano.

Mariton Bornas, chief of volcano monitoring and eruption at PHIVOLCS said residents within the immediate radius would be at risk of tremors, fissures and the threat of a sudden pyroclastic flow.

The institute recorded 335 earthquakes in the area of the volcano since Sunday and said more activity is expected in the next few days.

"These new strong, continuous earthquakes that we are now experiencing are due to fissuring, which means that there really is magma that is still making its way out of Taal," Bornas said.

"PHIVOCS strongly reiterates the need for the evacuation of Volcano Island, Taal Lake and the high-risk areas surrounding the volcano ... located within the immediate 14 kilometer radius from the main crater," she continued.

Eruption difficult to predict

Activity at the volcano continued through Tuesday. Lava fountains generated dark gray steam-laden plumes that reached 800 meters (2624 feet) high, according to the institute. Volcanic lightening was also visible.

PHIVOLCS said that new vents had opened up on the volcano's northern flank and fresh ashfall had landed on nearby towns.

Photos from the eruption show ash mixing with rain, creating a thick black sludge that blanketed cars, streets, and homes in some towns. Ash is even heavier than snow, meaning excessive pile-ups, especially when mixed with rain, can cause roofs to collapse.

In a briefing with the media on Tuesday, Director of PHIVOLCS Renato Solidum said they cannot definitively tell when the eruptions will stop.

The alert level for the volcano remains at four, meaning an "explosive eruption" could happen in the coming hours or days. Its highest alert level is five, indicating an eruption is taking place.

But predicting what will happen, or when, is fraught with difficulty. When the Taal Volcano erupted in 1754 it lasted six months. The deadliest eruption took 1,335 lives in 1911, and it lasted a few days.

"There is no smoking gun or mathematic indicator of if a volcano erupts or when," said Michalski of Hong Kong University.

Signals that eruptions are imminent or that there is activity going on include the frequency, location and depth of earthquakes, the water temperature of the lake increasing, and gas released from cracks or fissures.

"All these things, these activity increases, tell you that -- man, I'm getting out of here. Something is happening. But none of this says exactly what will happen in exactly what time frame," Michalski continued.

Ghost towns filled with ash

Federal authorities are helping the response and evacuation operation. The army sent 20 military vehicles and 120 personnel to help affected residents, and the secretary of national defense said helicopters were on standby to evacuate people.

Aid organizations like the Red Cross are assisting on the ground by sending rescue vehicles and supplies.

Richard Gordon, Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross said evacuated areas look like "ghost towns" with houses "filled with ash."

"There's been some rain, many have collapsed already," Gordon said. "If you live in the area you'd probably be terrified."

In Batangas and Cavite towns, power is down due to heavy ash collecting on the electricity lines and there is no fresh water, Gordon said.

Evacuation centers include basketball courts, gyms and schools and are not designed for large-scale evacuations.

Red Cross teams on the ground are working to provide water tankers, ambulances, hotmeal vans, and masks, as well as providing psychological support and setting up 70-bed wards in heavily affected areas to care for people with respiratory problems caused by the ash.

"The situation there is very dusty, and certainly it gets into your lungs and can create long term damage," said Gordon. "We are advising people to close their windows with a damp cloth. People with respiratory illness or cardiovascular problems, they should move far away from the volcano to Manila or other provinces."

The ash fall has also damaged crops in the area such as corn and coffee, and continues to threaten fish stocks, said Agriculture Secretary William Dar. Batangas province supplies Metro Manila 40% of its harvest of fish, including tawilis or "live sardines" only found in the province.

A potential eruption could also bring long-term consequences for the area's economy.

The volcano is surrounded by a lake, which is a popular attraction -- meaning many of the towns in the vicinity are tourism hot spots. There are several amusement parks, lakeside resorts and yacht clubs within 17-kilometer zone.

The holiday town of Tagaytay, which lies close to the water's edge, is a popular getaway for Manila residents who often take boats onto the lake and hike up the volcano.

On Sunday, the volcanic ash spread as far as Quezon City north of Manila, prompting the suspension of all flights at the capital's international airport. By Tuesday, normal operations resumed, according to Airport General Manager Ed Monreal, though it's possible flights may be suspended again if Taal's activity increases.

The airport remains congested with people trying to get on flights, Monreal added.

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2020-01-14 10:10:00Z
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Bongino says Soleimani 'having a pulse' was an imminent threat, blasts 'shameful' media coverage on Iran - Fox News

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino blasted the "shameful" media for having skewed coverage of the killing of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, maintaining that there was an imminent threat posed by Soleimani, which prompted President Trump to order the attack.

“The imminent threat was Soleimani having a pulse,” Bongino told “Fox & Friends" on Monday, stressing that the Islamic general was a "terrorist" responsible for "ethnic cleansing" in Iraq and the murders of Iranian protesters.

NBC News took heat this week for promoting "live coverage" of Soleimani's burial.

NBC NEWS' CHUCK TODD LASHES OUT AT TRUMP FOR CRITICIZING OBAMA WH DURING IRAN ADDRESS

While Soleimani's funeral was widely publicized as thousands took to the streets of Tehran earlier this week, NBC News took it a step further by providing coverage of his burial in his hometown.

"Watch live coverage as Gen. Qassem Soleimani is buried in his hometown of Kerman, Iran," NBC News tweeted on Tuesday along with the link to watch the burial.

CNBC has taken some heat for its framing of the U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that led to the death of Soleimani.

Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, was described by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as being just as dangerous as ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who killed himself during a raid by U.S.-led forces in Syria this past October.

As U.S. officials confirmed Soleimani's death, the business network tweeted: "America just took out the world's no. 1 bad guy" above a link to a piece by political and economic analyst Jake Novak.

The cable network was blasted on social media and accused of being a "corporate propaganda machine." Others slammed CNBC for the headline's "childish" nature. Meanwhile, Democrats and left-wing pundits have consistently questioned the Trump administration for claiming Soleimani posed an "imminent threat" to Americans in Iraq.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Bongino also accused media outlets such as CNN and MSNBC of “parroting” propaganda for the Iranians.

“This is probably one of those times we should at least give Donald Trump, the American government, the benefit of the doubt based on the goal and the end game of killing this terrorist,” Bongino said, arguing it was "common sense" to take out Soleimani based on his past history of directing attacks on American forces.

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

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2020-01-13 12:44:29Z
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Iranians protest for third day over downed airliner amid reports of gunfire by security forces - The Washington Post

Video appears to show Iranians running as shots ring out in Tehran on Jan. 12 during protests held against the downing of the Ukrainian plane and misleading explanations from senior officials in the wake of the tragedy.

ISTANBUL — Iranians staged protests Monday for the third straight day after Iran’s military admitted it shot down a Ukrainian airliner it mistook for a hostile aircraft last week, killing all 176 people on board.

Videos from Sunday night showed demonstrators fleeing from tear gas and in one case a woman bleeding in the leg — a wound that protesters said was caused by live ammunition.

“Is this the blood of our people?” one demonstrator said as he filmed a pool of blood on the street in Tehran.

In other videos posted on social media, which could not immediately be verified, sounds of gunfire could be heard at protests in Azadi Square in the capital, as well as in the city of Shiraz.

[Iranians protest as government admits shooting down airline]

In a televised statement, Tehran’s police chief denied that police shot at protesters and said they are under orders to show restraint.

“Police treated people who had gathered with patience and tolerance,” Iranian media quoted Rahimi as saying, the Associated Press reported. “Police did not shoot in the gatherings since broad-mindedness and restraint has been agenda of the police forces of the capital.”

Residents reported a heavy security presence in central Tehran Monday, including riot police and uniformed officers. One video showed riot police gathered near Vali-e Asr Square.

“All of Enghelab Street until Azadi Square is full of security forces,” said Sahar, 32, a resident of Tehran. Like other Iranians interviewed for this article, she declined to give her full name for fear of government reprisal.

Iranian security forces have cracked down hard on demonstrations and killed at least 200 protesters during unrest over cuts to fuel subsidies across Iran in November, according to rights groups. The Trump administration has put the death toll from those demonstrations much higher — it says some 1,500 people were killed by security forces.

One of the scenes of a demonstration was Sharif University of Technology in Tehran on Saturday night where people had gathered at a vigil for the victims of the plane crash. The university said that 13 of its students and alumni were killed when the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile early Wednesday.

Security forces “started dragging people away. They took a number of people and put them in cages in police vans,” said 35-year-old Soudabeh, an architect.

“At one point, the protesters freed one of the men who was detained. I saw his face and it was covered in blood — his family carried him away,” she said.

Another video from the same university Monday showed students once again chanting against the cleric-led government.

“They killed our elites and replaced them with clerics!” they shouted.

On Sunday evening, riot police fired tear gas at demonstrators gathered near the Shademaan metro station in Tehran, according to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Protesters are calling for accountability in the accidental downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. Iranian officials initially denied reports that the plane was brought down with a surface-to-air missile but later admitted that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful security institution, shot it down by mistake amid heightened tensions with the United States.

The crash occurred early Wednesday just hours after Iran had fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. troops. The barrage was retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, in Baghdad earlier this month.

In at least two locations late Sunday, demonstrators were filmed tearing down posters of the slain commander. In Vali-e Asr Square in Tehran, a large poster depicting Soleimani was replaced with a billboard mourning the victims of the crash.

The fury at Iran’s government marked a stunning turnaround for leaders in Tehran, after hundreds of thousands of mourners had rallied in solidarity with Soleimani in the wake of his death.

Officials and state media issued apologies for failing to report accurately on the crash.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency published a searing statement from the Tehran Association of Journalists Monday decrying the state of media in Iran.

“What endangers this society right now is not only missiles or military attacks but a lack of free media,” the association said.

“Hiding the truth and spreading lies traumatized the public,” the statement continued. “What happened was a catastrophe for media in Iran.”

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said Monday that Iran’s military should be commended for accepting responsibility for downing the airliner, which officials said was the result of “human error.”

The nation’s defense systems had been put on high alert in anticipation of a U.S. attack, security officials said.

Read more

Iranians are furious at their regime. But Trump still bans them.

Ukraine knew Flight 752 had been shot down, but it was careful not to antagonize Iran

Opinion: The airliner shoot-down is a make-or-break moment for Iran’s regime

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2020-01-13 13:41:00Z
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