Given the passengers were from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians, this event has sunk the Iranian regime into an international crisis.

Iranian authorities initially denied any involvement in the incident and claimed that the jetliner had crashed due to a technical defect. However, they announced that they would not deliver the black box to Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer. This decision raised suspicions over the Iranian regime’s role in the death of innocent passengers.

A little later, footages on the social media and expert estimations intensified suspicions. Many experts reasoned that it is impossible that a plane suddenly explodes without any previous notifications. On the other hand, on the same day, the Iranian regime was taking revenge on the U.S. military bases in Iraq for the death of the chief of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force Qassem Soleimani. In such circumstances, governments shut down airports to prevent any accidental disasters. However, the Iranian regime decided not to take this measure.

On Thursday, Ali Rabiei, Rouhani’s cabinet spokesman, tried to evade responsibility and answered reporters, “rub salt on a painful wound [for families of the victims].” A day later, on Friday, Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran’s civil aviation organization, in an interview with ISNA News Agency claimed, “It’s impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane… How can a plane being hit by rocket or missile [and then the pilot] try to turn back to the airport?”

However, the regime couldn’t conceal the truth for any longer and was forced to admit to the role of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the jetliner crash. On the dawn of January 11, Iran’s joint Chiefs of the Armed Forces stated that the plane was mistaken for a “hostile target.” Iran’s military forces tried to deflect the scope of the event by blaming the late pilot for turning toward a “sensitive military center.” However, some people who are familiar with the flight procedures say that four flights previously passed from the mentioned district!

Notably, this national disaster caused rise the of emotion against the ayatollahs and their inattention in the public sphere. Over the past week, more than 200 people lost their lives in road accidents, Soleimani’s funeral, an airliner crash across Iran. These events have taken place while two months ago, security forces massacred more than 1,500 demonstrators by shooting them directly in the head and chest. In this case, under international pressure, the ayatollahs were forced to tell the truth. But there are many cases that still remain unclear. Some of the cases are killing protesters during the November protests, mass killing of 30,000 political prisoners, mostly members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and violent crackdown on previous uprisings.

In conclusion, as the Iranian regime eventually confessed to its crime against the innocent passengers of the Ukrainian civil jetliner, the other crimes that were committed by the mullahs should be investigated by an international court. The Iranian Resistance earlier demanded the United Nation Security Council to urgently send a fact-finding mission to Iran to reveal the genuine scope of the death toll.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), described the plane crash as a great crime that won’t be forgiven and forgotten by the Iranian people. “Regime’s forced admission to shooting down the Ukrainian airliner that killed all the passengers is another great crime, which the Iranian people will neither forgive nor forget the Ukrainian Plane. The regime had given advance warning about its missile attack on American bases to the Iraqi government and its military and through them to the US. But did not issue any advance notice to our compatriots and did not cancel passenger flights,” Mrs. Rajavi tweeted.