Iran admits to unintentionally shooting down Ukrainian plane

President Trump tweeted a message of support in English and Farsi to demonstrators in Iran following a day of protests in the country.

Thousands of people gathered in front of the gate of Amirkabir University of Technology not far from the former US Embassy in Tehran on Saturday in anti-government protests.

The students were originally set to gather for a vigil ceremony to commemorate the victims of the downed Ukrainian Airlines plane, but the mood of the crowd shifted to anger, Iran’s semi-official FARS News Agency reported.

Across social media people posted the following:

“The Chief Commander of all army forces (Supreme Leader) must resign.”

“Resignation is not enough. The responsible must be tried.”?

“Death to dictator.”

“IRGC, resignation, resignation. Leave the power.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani?spoke via phone Saturday about the Ukrainian passenger jet being shot down, according to a readout of the phone call from the Canadian government.

Rouhani?expressed “profound regret for the shooting down of the aircraft by the Iranian military.”

Trudeau?insisted on the need for a complete and thorough investigation, saying Canada was ready to deploy air safety experts to facilitate black box examination and DNA specialists to assist with victim identification and the return of remains to Canada.

Trudeau?and Rouhani?agreed “on the importance of de-escalation and dialogue to reduce tensions and promote stability in the region.” Trudeau said the incident is “an example of how heightened tensions can have tragic consequences for innocent civilians.”

CNN has obtained video through Alireza Azami, an activist in the Netherlands, showing thousands of people gathered in front of the gate of Amir Kabir University in Tehran.

Azami told CNN the videos were shot by people at the protests who want to remain anonymous for safety reasons.?

In the video below, protesters can be heard chanting “Khamenei have shame. Leave the country.”

Some context: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iran’s Armed Forces to investigate the “possible shortcomings” that led to the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane on Wednesday.

Watch Azami’s video below:

Bahareh Karami?

One of the victims killed in the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash was an alumna of?North Carolina State University, according to the school.

Bahareh Karami received a master’s degree in environmental engineering in 2012, the school said. She’s remembered for her “perseverance and optimism.”

“She initially had a tough time in grad school,” said Francis de los Reyes, an engineering professor who was her mentor. “But she stuck to it and I was so proud of her when she graduated. She had a bright future ahead of her.”

Karami’s employer, the Regional Municipality of York in Canada, lowered flags to half-staff in her?honor, the school said.

Karami spoke four languages and earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering at the University of Tehran in 2009, then received an international certificate in health, safety and environmental training from the United Nations Association of Iran.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary, told CNN “the Iranians may have had a desire that nothing be revealed” and that they “acted there [at the crash site] very, very quickly so that everything was hidden.”

Danilov said in an interview Friday to say that “what they did and how it all looked when we [Ukrainian investigators] saw it was just awful.”

Ukrainian investigators “understood” that a missile had brought down PS752 on its way from Tehran to Kiev just three hours after they started work at the crash site, according to Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov.

Danilov, who spoke with CNN today, said “these experts have experience in studying such tragedies, they were involved in the investigation of the Boeing disaster brought down by the Russian Federation [Malaysia Airlines Flight 17] in the Donetsk region.”?

He added that “after 3 hours of their fruitful work and thanks to the information that we began to receive from other sources, we realized that such a tragedy had occurred.”

Britain’s?Queen Elizabeth II was “deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life” following the news of the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed Wednesday killing all 176 people on board.

Of those people on board, 57 were Canadian.

The Queen’s message can be read here.

Photos of crash site of Ukrainian plane?

Tensions between the US and Iran “contributed” to the downing of flight?PS 752, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters this afternoon when asked if Canada?draws a direct connection between the plane crash and?tensions between the two countries, as Iran has previously stated.?

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he commits “to collaborate, to give closure to the victims, de-escalate tensions in the region and continue this dialogue,” Trudeau told reporters this afternoon.

Three visas have been issued for members of Canada’s Standing Rapid Deployment Team (SRDT), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters this afternoon.

The SRDT is a unit of specialized officials deployed to work alongside Canada’s embassies and consulates abroad to help provide critical services to Canadians in distress during emergencies, according to the Canadian government.?

“We expect that the lead members of this team will arrive in Tehran around 4 p.m.today and establish a presence on the ground to support Canadian families,” Trudeau said, adding that additional team members will follow.?

CNN previously reported that the Canadian government was waiting on visas to be granted for members of the government’s Transportation Safety Board and Global Affairs staff.?

“Currently, Iranians are cooperating in granting visas,” the prime minister said.

Thousands of people gathered in front of the gate of Amir Kabir University, not far from the former American embassy, in Tehran today as part of anti-government protests.?

Iran’s semi-official FARS News Agency said that the students were originally set to gather for a vigil for the victims of the downed Ukrainian Airlines plane but the mood of the crowd shifted to anger.

The death of graduates from top universities migrating to Canada on the Ukrainian flight has struck a nerve with protesters. Many protesters feel their future is ruined in a country facing high unemployment.

FARS says that students were originally assisted by the Law Enforcement of the Islamic Republic (NAJA), but as they entered the main roads and caused road blocks, NAJA dispersed the students.

The number of protesters is not as high as recent protests, but it may lead to further protests in different university campuses in the coming weeks.

The following protest video was taken by Alireza Azami in Tehran:

Speaking in Ottawa this afternoon, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Iran’s admission regarding the Ukrainian passenger jet “an extremely serious matter.”

Trudeau added: “What Iran has admitted to is very serious. Shooting down a civilian aircraft is horrific. Iran must take full responsibility. Canada will not rest until we get the accountability, justice and closure that the families deserve.”

Iran President Hassan Rouhani apologized to the Ukrainian people for downing the Ukrainian plane and promised to hold those responsible for the tragedy “accountable,” according to the readout of today’s call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the statement, Iran is working to repatriate the bodies of those killed in the crash by Jan. 19 and “agrees on the issue” of paying Ukraine compensations.

Iran’s admission that its armed forces mistakenly shot down a Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet in Tehran on Wednesday is a “step in the right direction,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today on Twitter.?

“The perpetrators must be held accountable. We look forward to further legal and technical cooperation,” the Ukrainian president added.?

Zelensky’s remarks come after the Iranian Armed Forces confirmed that flight PS752 was unintentionally hit after being mistaken for a hostile target.

Ukraine is now investigating the downing of a Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet in Tehran by the Iranian armed forces on Wednesday as a possible case of “willful killing and aircraft destruction,” the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office said today in a statement.?

?“The investigation will continue under the articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which provide for the liability for the willful killing of two or more people and the destruction of the aircraft,” the statement added.

More context: The change in the qualification of the investigation – which had initially been treated as a “violation of traffic safety rules” and “operation of air transport resulting in death” case – follows Iran’s admission on Saturday that it mistakenly downed the flight, killing 176 people on board.

According to the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Central Investigating Department of the Security Service of Ukraine has been “instructed to conduct a pre-trial investigation” into the case.

A senior administration official had harsh words for Iran after it admitted it shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “good that we know who was responsible” for the downing of the Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, describing Iran’s accidental downing of the passenger aircraft as “a dramatic event.”

The Canadian government is waiting for Iran to issue 10 visas to representatives of the Canadian government to gain access to the accident site,?Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a press conference Friday evening.

Two members of Canada’s Transportation Safety Board and 10 officials from Global Affairs are waiting in Ankara, Turkey for the documents.?

Champagne added: “I’ve been calling the Foreign Minister of Turkey today to seek his assistance as well to make sure the Iranian embassy in Ankara would be issuing the visas as quickly as possible because we all know that in circumstances like the one we’re facing time is of the essence. Every hour matters and we are pursuing that vigorously with all the authorities and partners around the world.”?

Champagne said the latest information he had as of Friday evening was that two visas have been issued, but 10 more were needed for the Canadians to move into Tehran.

The European Union has acknowledged the statements made by the Iranian authorities taking responsibility for the crash of Ukrainian International Airlines jetliner on Jan. 8.

The spokesperson added: “In view of the commitments given by President Rouhani, the?EU expects that Iran will continue to cooperate fully and undertake a comprehensive and transparent investigation, which should abide by international standards, into how this tragedy occurred. Appropriate measures need to be taken to ensure that such a horrible accident can never occur again.”

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that Iran’s admission that PS752 was shot down by mistake was “an important first step” and that a transparent investigation was now needed.

Johnson added: “We now need a comprehensive, transparent and independent international investigation and the repatriation of those who died. The UK will work closely with Canada, Ukraine and our other international partners affected by this accident to ensure this happens.”

The statement went on to say that “this tragic accident only reinforces the importance of de-escalating tensions in the region. We can all see very clearly that further conflict will only lead to more loss and tragedy. It is vital that all leaders now pursue a diplomatic way forward.”

Heiko Maas in May 2019.

Germany’s foreign minister has called on Iran to “deal with this terrible catastrophe” after the general staff of Iran’s armed forces admitted Saturday that Iran had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet on Wednesday, killing 176 people on board.?

“Our thoughts are with the victims and the bereaved,” he added.

The Foreign Minister’s remarks come ahead of a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, in which the two leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

The final interactions between the doomed Ukraine International Airline flight 752 and the dispatch tower at Tehran airport involved instructions for the plane to turn, according to airline officials who declined to provide additional details.

“We have been reassured that [the aircraft] had the dialogue with the airport, with the dispatcher tower, until the last moment of the catastrophe,” the airline’s CEO Yevgenii Dyhkne said Saturday at a press conference in Kiev.

“There were negotiations about the route, they had permission to turn, so all of this is now connected to the investigation and I’m sure it will be available in documents in time,” he added.

Asked what the final words of the pilot were, Dykhne said he couldn’t comment on the details but UIA Vice President Ihor Sosnovsky added that the final communication between the plane and the tower was a command from the tower to “take an altitude and turn.”

Sosnovsky later added: “I do not have the right to tell you what they’ve said. That’s dishonest and that’s not right to do because this is the investigation materials, I have no right to tell you what they’ve said.”

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force said he had requested all commercial flights in Iran be grounded until tensions with the US cooled off.

But those within the Armed Forces authorized to make such a request from the government and aviation authority chose not to do so, Brigadier-General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said at a press conference on Saturday.

General Amir Ali Hajizadeh,in September.

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force said Saturday he informed authorities on Wednesday that a missile had downed the Ukrainian passenger plane.

Brigadier-General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said at a press conference in Tehran that after he told senior IRGC members about it, the general staff of the Armed Forces formed its own investigative team, from which he was excluded.

Hajizadeh partially blamed the US for the downing of the plane, saying Iran was already on high alert following the US’s warning that it could target 52 sites in Iran, and amid rising tensions with the country.

He said the plane was shot down by a short-range missile and was misidentified as a cruise missile by an air defense operator.

The operator identified the plane as a cruise missile but was unable to contact the central air defense command to confirm it. So he had to choose between shooting it down or not, and he choose to do it, Hajizadeh said. The operator had 10 seconds to make a decision.?

Hajizadeh accepted full responsibility for the incident and said once it became clear what had happened, he thought: “I wish I was dead.”

Rescue teams gather at the scene after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed in Iran Wednesday.

The head of Ukraine International Airlines said that they had “no information about possible threats” to civilian aircraft on departure from either Kiev or Tehran airports, ahead of Wednesday’s crash.

The airline’s flight 752 was accidentally shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile last week.

Iran had previously denied US claims that the country had struck down the plane accidentally.

On Saturday, Iranian Ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, apologized for his wrong statement on Friday about the cause of the Ukrainian plane crash.

In a stunning reversal, Iran admitted that it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, blaming human error and “US adventurism” for the crash that left 176 people dead.

Read more here:

Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. - The Boeing 737 had left Tehran's international airport bound for Kiev, semi-official news agency ISNA said, adding that 10 ambulances were sent to the crash site. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Iran says Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down unintentionally in fear of US aggression

Several planes had taken the exact same flight path as the Ukrainian airliner, up to an hour before it took off, aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told CNN.

“So clearly the authorities thought it was safe,” said the editor-in-chief of Airlineratings.com.

All of which raises the question – why was this particular aircraft shot down so soon after taking off?

He added that the Ukrainian plane’s transponder was switched on and flight radar was “tracking it until it?was blown out of the sky at?8,000 feet.

On the same night the US military killed Iranian commander?Qasem Soleimani, they unsuccessfully targeted another senior Iranian military official in Yemen, according to a US official with knowledge of the events and another source familiar.

The sources would not give any details about the mission or how the US had attempted to carry it out. The US official said to the best of their knowledge there is no broader operation to decapitate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds force leadership at this time.

In a statement to CNN, Pentagon spokeswoman Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich acknowledged seeing the report but declined to offer any additional information.

Read the full report here:

Related article US unsuccessfully targeted another Iranian military official on same day as Soleimani

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iran’s Armed Forces to investigate the “possible shortcomings” that led to the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane on Wednesday.

Khamenei also expressed his condolences to the families of the Ukrainian crash victims.

“I should first again give my?deep sympathy and hearty condolences to the families of the victims of this disaster and ask God for?patience and rewards and spiritual relief for them,” he said.??

Both Iran’s Supreme Leader and President were informed on Friday about the cause of the downing of a Ukrainian airliner, after top military commanders concluded human error was the cause, according to semi-official state outlet Fars News Agency.

Fars reported that after being informed of the error in the country’s air defense system, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an urgent order to convene a National Security Council meeting to investigate the matter.

Soon after the meeting concluded, he stressed the results of the investigation become public as soon as possible, Fars reported. It was then decided that Iran’s Armed Forces and President Hassan Rouhani draft statements to be released.

Iran’s Armed Forces and the President released separate statements Saturday morning indicating that human error caused the crash of the Ukrainian airliner.

The black box recordings of the downed Ukrainian airliner will be downloaded in France, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization’s Accident Investigation board said on Saturday, according to state media.

Although Iran made use of all its facilities to examine the content of the black box inside the country, the content will be sent to France so that any possible damage to the data would be avoided, Hassan Rezaeifar told state news agency IRNA.

Rezaeifar said Iran asked Canada, France and the US to bring their software and hardware equipment to Tehran to download the data of the black box of the Ukrainian plane, but they did not accept Iran’s proposal, according to IRNA.

Then, Iran asked Ukraine, Sweden, Britain, Canada, and the US to send the black box to an impartial laboratory – and France was the only one all five countries agreed on, he said.

The decision to send the black box over to France was made before Saturday’s statement from the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, which admitted to downing the Ukrainian airliner, according to IRNA.

No details were provided as to when Iran will send the black box over.

While tensions between the US and Iran have deescalated in recent days, Middle East political analyst Fawaz Gerges told CNN that the countries “remain on a collision course.”

“I see it now really changing?from a direct confrontation?between Iran and the United States,?into a war of attrition,” said the author of “Making the Arab World.”

“Iran and its allies will likely?target American interests in the Middle East,” he added.

Gerges predicted that over the coming weeks, America would bring home most of its 5,000 soldiers in Iraq.

Meanwhile a contingent of?American forces and?international coalition will?“likely remain in the country for?the sole purpose of the fight?against ISIS,” he added.

Iran has admitted it accidentally shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight that crashed Wednesday morning, killing all 176 people on board.

In a surprisingly candid mea culpa,?President Hassan Rouhani said his country “deeply regrets this disastrous mistake”?and vowed to investigate and prosecute.

Flying close to a ‘sensitive target’:?Iran’s military also issued a statement on the crash, an unusual move for such a secretive organization. The statement said Iran’s armed forces were on high alert at the time of the crash.

After the Ukrainian airliner took off from Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran, it flew close to a sensitive military site “at an altitude and a condition of a flight that resembled (a) hostile target,” the statement added.

Some experts have criticized Iran for not closing off civilian airspace after launching missiles to prevent this type of incident.

“Human error … caused by US adventurism”:?Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also acknowledged the airliner was brought down by a missile, but said the United States bore partial responsibility.

“Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster,” he said.

An Iranian mourner holds a placard during the final stage of funeral processions for slain top general Qasem Soleimani, in his hometown Kerman on Jan. 7.

Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752?crashed Wednesday after takeoff from Tehran’s airport.?

The crash came hours after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi military bases housing US troops in retaliation for a drone strike at Baghdad airport that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

Here’s a quick recap of the US-Iran crisis that has increased tensions in the Middle East in recent weeks:

Wreckage from the crash is seen scattered on Friday in Shahedshahr, Iran. The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Iran admitted Saturday?that it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, blaming human error and “US adventurism” for the crash that left 176 people dead.

In a statement, the nation’s armed forces said it targeted the passenger plane unintentionally. It attributed the crash to radar activity and fear of US action.

Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752?crashed Wednesday after takeoff from Tehran’s airport.?The crash came hours after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi military bases housing US troops in retaliation for a drone strike at Baghdad airport that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

Here’s what we know: