If Iranian authorities have not specified the number of people involved, these are the first arrests Tehran has made in the case of the Ukrainian Boeing disaster, which was mistakenly shot down by an Iranian missile. The 176 passengers and crew on board, mostly Iranians and Canadians, all perished in the crash. "A huge investigation has been carried out and people have been arrested", Justice spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili, who spoke at a televised press conference, said on Tuesday 14 January.
After initially denying the hypothesis that the plane of Ukraine International Airlines could have been shot down by an Iranian missile a few hours after firing of Iranian missiles against military bases in Iraq (in reprisal five days more early in the assassination of General Ghassem Soleimani), the Iranian armed forces acknowledged Saturday their responsibility in this drama, evoking a " human error ". Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the aerospace branch of the Revolutionary Guards (or Pasdarans), endorsed it on Saturday "Total responsibility", while declaring that the soldier in charge of shooting had acted independently.
All those responsible must be "punished"
The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hassan Rohani, assured earlier Monday that his country should " to punish " all those responsible for this drama. "The justice system must form a special tribunal with high-ranking judges and dozens of experts (…), the whole world will watch ", he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured the day before that justice would be "Made", and all the countries affected by the tragedy – Canada, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Sweden and Afghanistan – are pressing for Iran to conduct a transparent investigation.
The announcement of the responsibility of the armed forces created a shock in Iran and a wave of indignation. On Monday, videos on social media said Iranians took to the streets for the third day in a row and chanted slogans against the authorities.
