Protesters are angry about the way Iranian authorities handled the disaster in which 176 people were killed by a Russian-made Tor missile fired by an IRGC unit on the outskirts of Tehran. Authorities refused to tell the public about the real cause of the disaster for three days, despite mounting evidence from Western intelligence agencies and videos circulating on Iranian social media showing that an object hit the plane before it crashed.
Protests in Tehran were widespread, with riot police using tear gas to disperse protesters. Videos circulated on social media showed a woman shot and wounded, her blood splattered on the pavement near the capital city’s iconic Azadi Square. However, Tehran police chief Hossein Rahimi told Farsnews that the security situation in the capital was "calm" and faced "no particular issues."
“The Islamic Republic, the Islamic Republic, we don’t want, we don’t want [it],” hundreds of people chanted in the northern city of Amol, Mazandaran province. In Kurdish areas in the west of the country, people came out and challenged the security forces. In Kermanshah, riot police used tear gas to disperse protesters, who chanted “dishonorable” in unison.
Videos showed people in Tehran tearing down memorial posters of General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike on January 3. The killing of Soleimani had come as a response to the storming of the US embassy in Baghdad by militiamen loyal to Iran, angered by airstrikes that killed 25 of their troops a week earlier.
The downing of passenger jet PS752 came a few hours after Iran fired around two dozen ballistic missiles at two bases in Iraq housing US troops in response to Soleimani’s assassination. IRGC officials have not given any specific information about what happened on that fateful morning, when one of their missiles struck the plane and caused its crash.
IRGC chief Hossein Salami was summoned to parliament on Sunday to field questions about the strike from lawmakers. The event turned into a spectacle, however, as pro-government MPs praising the guards for maintain the security in the country and asked no tough questions.
Parliamentarians and city councilors have described the misinformation surrounding the crash as symptomatic of wider defect in the Iranian political establishment.
“I am ashamed of you all…I hope the authorities…for once be responsible and take a brave decision to get the country out of this vicious and never-ending circle of lying, corruption and incompetence,” Bahareh Arvin, a member of Tehran’s city council posted on her Telegram channel on Sunday.
Canadian-Iranian citizens Hiwa Molani, his wife Avin Arsalani, and their one year old daughter Kurdia were among those who died in the crash.
“No official has contacted us,” Hiwa’s brother Shahram Molani told Radio Farda. “I am in shock and don’t know how to explain this.” l
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid his respects to the Canadian victims of the disaster at a memorial on Sunday.
“No words can erase the pain of those grieving, but it is my sincere hope that you can find some comfort in knowing that all Canadians stand with you. You are not alone, and we will continue to stand with you in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.”
Despite a reconciliatory tone struck by a speech last week after Iran’s ballistic missile strikes on Wednesday, President Donald Trump tweeted he “couldn’t care less” about the impact of protests and ongoing sanctions on the Iranian regime.
“National Security Adviser suggested today that sanctions & protests have Iran “choked off”, will force them to negotiate. Actually, I couldn’t care less if they negotiate. Will be totally up to them but, no nuclear weapons and “don’t kill your protesters.”
