The Ukrainian plane shootdown by the Revolutionary Guards, killing 176 passengers, is a crime against humanity. Iranian authorities were well aware of the real cause of the crash of the Ukrainian flight in the vicinity of Tehran, but denied it and repeatedly claimed that technicnal failures have caused the plane to crash and kill all aboard. Today, in the world of social media, no truth can be kept hostage for long, and the killing of innocent people cannot be denied.
In this respect, the mullahs’ foreign minister, Javad Zarif, a well-known liar, called speculations that the plane was shot down, Western-style propaganda. On January 8, Iran’s ILNA News Agency wrote: “A Boeing 737, belonging to Ukrainian Airlines, crashed in the city of Shahriar soon after takeoff, due to technical issues.”
The regime admitted that it shot missiles at the plane after three days of denial. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Khamenei, claimed that he was unaware of Ukrainian plane shootdown. However, in his previous speeches, he had made it clear that everything happening in the country was always checked with him before being implemented.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States for creating an atmosphere of anxiety and intimidation. According to him, the entire armed forces of Iran were on alert and therefore shooting down a passenger plane by mistake was justified in such circumstances. But the question for Hassan Rouhani is that if the armed forces were on alert, why was the plane even allowed to take off, in a clear violation of international aviation protocols.
Many international observers question the necessity of such a defense system this close to a civilian airport. The regime’s top defense officials blamed the Ukrainian plane shootdown on a single unit. But according to the regime’s hierarchy, the blame falls on Ali Khamenei as commander-in-chief, President Hassan Rouhani, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The regime has to be held accountable for its atrocities and the innocent lives that were lost in the Ukrainian plane shootdown. The missile attack on a passenger flight is not just an innocent incident, many lives have been perished in vain, and the world must not be silence and indifferent. This incident exemplifies the situation of a regime that is in complete disarray and will do anything, including shooting down a passenger plane to continue its illegitimate grasp on power. This is the same regime that killed 1,500 of its own citizens in the uprisings of November 2019.
The International community is in a unique position to hold the Iranian regime accountable for such a fatal act. It should force the regime in Tehran for clear answers in this regard.
In a statement, the Prime Minister of Canada emphasized, “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.”
Citizens of different countries were in the aircraft, and the regime should be tried and punished in an international court. With this crime, the Iranian regime’s international legitimacy has been shattered once again. This crime of the regime and the Revolutionary Guards is a violation of all international law.
According to UN-affiliated IATA laws, Iran must deliver the Black Box of the crashed plane to Boeing, the manufacturer of the crashed airplane. However, Iran has announced that it will not follow such protocol.
The Iranian regime is tangled in an array of domestic and international issues that have brought it to a stage of suffocation. The crash of a passenger plane is yet another sign of an incapable and inhumane regime, pushing it closer to its collapse.
Source » irannewswire