What did Iran admit about Flight 752?

What was known about the destruction of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by 15 January 2020, a week after it happened? By then, Iran had reversed its account of the disaster, and the consequences were still unfolding in Tehran's streets.

The flight was a scheduled service from Tehran to Kyiv. On 8 January 2020 the Boeing 737-800 was shot down shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board. The aircraft was brought down by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

From denial to admission

In the first days Iran pointed to a technical cause. On 9 January, U.S., Canadian, British and Iraqi officials said they believed the crash had probably been caused accidentally by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, while Iran maintained it was due to "mechanical failure". The same day, The New York Times released a verified video, obtained from an Iranian citizen, showing the plane being struck by what appeared to be a surface-to-air missile.

Also on 9 January, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was too early to draw definitive conclusions that the downing was an "act of war". He also condemned Iran's attack on U.S. bases in Iraq.

On 10 January, after Trudeau suggested an Iranian missile had downed the plane, Iranian authorities rejected the idea. Iran's civil aviation chief said he was "certain" no missile had hit the aircraft and still asserted that the cause was mechanical failure.

That position did not last. On 11 January, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps admitted it had mistakenly shot down the plane as it took off from Tehran. Iran's president officially acknowledged that the country's armed forces had erroneously hit the aircraft with a missile near the capital.

Vigils turn to protest

The admission had immediate political effects inside Iran. Vigils held for the victims subsequently turned into protests on 11 January. According to videos posted on Twitter, hundreds of protesters in Tehran called for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The same day, the British ambassador to Iran, Robert Macaire, was arrested during the protests, after attending a vigil and then, according to the BBC, getting his hair cut. Tasnim News Agency said he was held on suspicion of organising, provoking and directing radical actions. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the arrest was a "flagrant violation" of international law. Macaire was released more than an hour later.

Where matters stood

By 15 January 2020, the sequence was clear: a rapid shift from insistence on mechanical failure to an official acknowledgement of a mistaken missile strike, within three days of the crash becoming a subject of international scrutiny. The aircraft's Kyiv-bound passengers and crew were all among the dead, and the protests that followed the admission had put new pressure on Iran's leadership.