752

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kiev operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. All 176 passengers and crew were killed; it was the first fatal air accident involving Ukraine International Airlines.The airplane was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which attributed it to human error, with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani describing the accident as an "unforgivable mistake". Iranian aviation authorities initially denied the airplane was hit by a missile and said a technical error was responsible, while Ukrainian authorities, after initially deferring to Iran's explanation, said a shoot-down of the flight was one of their main working theories. Investigation by Western intelligence agencies and the general public revealed that the aircraft was shot down by a Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile launched by Iran. Three days later, on 11 January, the IRGC admitted their responsibility for downing the aircraft, firing two surface-to-air missiles at it, having mistaken it for a cruise missile.The incident occurred during the 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis, at a time of heightened tensions five days after U.S. president Donald Trump launched a drone strike killing Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in retaliation for the breaching of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad by Iranian militia group Kata'ib Hezbollah and their supporters and hours after Iran's retaliatory ballistic missile attacks. It was preceded by an order from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that all American civilian aircraft avoid Iranian airspace and was followed by similar orders by several other nations and airlines including Ukraine.Experts have questioned Iran's decision to not close its airspace after launching missiles; General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said a request had been made for a no-fly zone before the incident but this request was rejected. Later, The New York Times reported that Iranian officials feared shutting down the airport would create mass panic that war with the United States was imminent, and they also hoped the presence of passenger jets could act as a deterrent against an American attack on the airport or the nearby military base, "effectively turning planeloads of unsuspecting travelers into human shields."As a result of the aircraft shootdown and government deception, mass protests broke out in Iran calling for the removal of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. A Khamenei representative in the elite Revolutionary Guards, told a gathering of Khamenei’s representatives in Iranian universities that the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that chose Khamenei, “... do not appoint the Supreme Leader, rather they discover him [...] In the Islamic system, the office and the legitimacy of the Supreme Leader comes from God, the Prophet and the Shi’ite Imams".

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