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Flight 752: what followed Iran's admission of guilt?
Summary
A look back at the days after Iran acknowledged that its forces shot down a Ukrainian airliner near Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.
What did the world know about the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by 16 January 2020, and how quickly had Iran's account changed? Within days, the official line had moved from denial to admission.
The flight was a scheduled service from Tehran to Kyiv, operated by Ukraine International Airlines. On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 was shot down shortly after takeoff by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), killing all 176 occupants.
From denial to admission
On 10 January 2020, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested that an Iranian missile had brought the plane down, Iranian authorities rejected the theory. The country's civil aviation chief said he was certain the aircraft had not been hit by a missile and still put the cause down to mechanical failure.
The position was reversed the next day. On 11 January 2020, the IRGC admitted that it had mistakenly shot down the aircraft as it took off from Tehran. Iran's president also formally acknowledged that the country's armed forces had mistakenly hit the Ukrainian plane with a missile near the capital.
Vigils become protests
The admission had consequences on the streets of Iran. Vigils held for the victims subsequently turned into protests on 11 January 2020. According to videos posted on Twitter, hundreds of protesters in Tehran called for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A diplomatic incident
The same day, the British ambassador to Iran, Robert Macaire, was arrested during the unrest. The BBC reported that he had attended a vigil and then got a haircut. Tasnim News Agency said he was held on suspicion of organising, provoking and directing radical actions. The UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said the arrest was a flagrant violation of international law. Macaire was released more than an hour later.
By 16 January 2020, then, the sequence was clear: a rejection of the missile theory on 10 January, an admission by the IRGC and the president on 11 January, and protests and a diplomatic row that began on that same day.
