Iran said on Tuesday it had arrested an undisclosed number of suspects accused of playing a role in the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger place last week.
Adam Reed reports.
Iran makes first arrests over plane disaster
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday (January 14) the crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed 176 people was an "unforgivable mistake" by the country's military.
As the country deals with one of the greatest public challenges to their clerical rulers since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Rouhani said Iran will punish "all those responsible" for what it has called the accidental shooting down of the passenger jet, Adding that the "tragic event" would be investigated properly.
SHOWS: TEHRAN, IRAN (JANUARY 14, 2020) (IRINN - NO USE IRAN.
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NO USE IRAN INTERNATIONAL) (LOGOS FROM SOURCE) (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) PRESIDENT OF IRAN, HASSAN ROUHANI, SAYING: "The fact that our armed forces very clearly and openly confessed to their mistake and apologized to the people was a good first step and the next steps shall be taken as well." Rouhani went on to give his assurance that something like this will not happen again and that his government were "accountable to Iranian and other nations who lost lives in the plane crash." Iran's judiciary have arrested an undisclosed number of suspects for their role in the crash, as anti-government demonstrations triggered by the disaster entered a fourth day.
After days of denying blame for the crash, Iran acknowledged on Saturday it had shot the plane down during a state of high alert, hours after it had fired missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq, as retaliation for the killing of Iran's most powerful military commander.
Since then, protesters, including hundreds of students, have held anti-government demonstrations, with some being met by a visible and violent police crackdown.