Iran’s regime used victims of Flight PS752 as human shields to prolong rule
Three years ago today, on January 8, 2020, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), under orders from regime dictator Ali Khamenei, launched at least two surface-to-air missiles and shot down a passenger airliner. Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752 fell from the skies outside of Tehran, killing all 176 people onboard.
Khamenei was seeking to avenge former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani killed in a U.S. drone strike five days earlier near Baghdad International Airport. And part of Khamenei’s plan was to sacrifice the lives of 176 innocent people on Flight PS752 as a human shield against a possible U.S. retaliation.
The mullahs’ regime ruling Iran has a long history of killing the Iranian people to prolong their rule. During the 1980s the regime insisted on continuing the Iran-Iraq War for several years, constantly sending wave after wave of Iranians into the warfronts as cannon fodders. 400,000 minors were also sent to battle, many to clear minefields by being forced to literally run into the dangerous areas to pave the path for the regime’s brigades.
More recently, from December 2017 to this day Iran has witnessed numerous nationwide uprisings. Tehran’s rulers have responded with a heavy hand and bloody crackdowns, including the killing of over 1,500 civilians in November 2019, and at least 750 more in the latest protests that continue as we speak.
And as the world witnessed in horror on January 8, 2020, the mullahs’ regime is willing to kill Iranians in the air, parallel to their deadly crackdown on the ground, for the sole purpose of safeguarding their dictatorship. It has been three years and the families of the 176 victims have yet to see justice.
On January 11, following three days of global pressure and criticism targeting the Iranian regime for shooting down PS752, the mullahs claimed this tragedy was the result of a human error.
In response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani by the U.S., the mullahs and the IRGC sought what they described as “hard revenge”, responding with a ballistic missile strike targeting the Ain Al Assad Airbase in western Iraq where U.S. soldiers were stationed. Although Tehran had informed the government of Baghdad in advance—indirectly informing the Americans—the regime refused to close down Iran’s airspace and cancel all passenger flights to thus use the passengers of PS752 as human shields, fearing a retaliatory response from the Trump administration.
Only a few hours after PS752 was downed by the IRGC air defense units, Khamenei spoke of “revenge” in a public speech and used the term “slap in the face” in reference to the attack against Ain Al Assad.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the IRGC Aerospace Force, revealed later that in the early morning hours of January 8 he had informed the regime’s senior officials that they had shot down PS752. This means Khamenei was fully aware in mere hours that the IRGC had once again attacked the Iranian people and the families of PS752 victims. However, Iran’s dictator chose to remain silent.
Three days later, the regime’s Armed Forces Headquarters, under pressure from international revelations, issued a statement acknowledging that the IRGC fired at a passenger flight, but claimed it was due to unintentional human error.
Tehran claimed that the operator of the IRGC air defense unit mistook a massive Boeing 737-8KV passenger plane. As a reminder, a cruise missile has a length of around 6.25 meters (20 feet) and is 0.52 meters (21 inches) in diameter. A Boeing 737–800, however, has a length of 39.47 meters (~130 feet), a wingspan of 34.31 meters (112ft 7in), and a height of 12.55 meters (41ft 2in).
Furthermore, a cruise missile has a completely different radar signature, making the regime’s scenario of lies even more ludicrous and suspicious.
This was taking place less than two months after the November 2019 massacre of over 1,500 protesters killed by the mullahs’ regime in the streets of cities checkered across Iran. To add insult to injury, regime officials one after another were lying to cover up their crimes.
In a leaked audio recording, former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is heard saying: “The world is saying a missile brought down [Flight PS752]. If this is truly the case, tell us so we can begin evaluating how to solve this matter.” Many Iranians have criticized Zarif for being the regime’s chief apologist, and this only adds to their long list of accusations.
Iran’s network of apologists and lobbyists in the West were also quite active in pushing the regime’s talking points and denying the mullahs had any interest in deliberately downing PS752.
On February 19, 2020, Iran's then defense minister Amir Hatami said the PS752 black box had “sustained noticeable damage” and Iran would not hand it over to another country despite pressure for access.
The noticeable damage claim was yet another lie by Iran's regime. The day after the downing, state TV reported the black boxes were “intact” and the “data can be downloaded.”
The regime in Tehran has in the past three years gone the distance to minimize its deliberate downing of PS752 with at least two SAM missiles to a bitter and accidental incident. All the while, regime officials have been busy threatening the victims’ families seeking truth and justice.
It is also worth noting that the regime executed Majidreza Rahnavard, a protester from the city of Mashhad, in just 13 days after putting him on trial. However, the regime’s judiciary has only held five court sessions in three years for those accused of in the PS752 case. During this period regime officials have refused to provide a list or any images of those accused. Footage from the PS752 court in Tehran shows the faces of those accused have been blurred.
The families of PS752 victims have also sought justice through international organizations. One of these entities, being the International Civil Aviation Organization, has come under heavy criticism for its actions, or lack thereof. The Iranian regime’s permanent representative in this organization is Farhad Parvaresh, who in an interview with Canada’s National Post on January 9, 2020, claimed it’s simply not possible that Iran even accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner.
“If you talk to experts, this cannot be right. Totally it is wrong, 100 per cent,” he said of the missile theory. “This is something purely technical. It was a disaster, it was a great tragedy.… What is going around is because of some political issues, the tension between Iran and the U.S.”
It is worth noting that Parvaresh, during his previous role as the CEO of Iran Air, had a long history of using passenger planes as shields for the regime’s smuggling of weapons to countries across the Middle East. These initiatives were mainly pursued by Qassem Soleimani and the IRGC Quds Force.
In a regime that cares next to nothing for the lives of ordinary people, the former IRGC intelligence chief believes the entire PS752 dossier should be finalized and closed with “blood money” provided to the victims’ families. “Some people living abroad hindered the process of the victims’ families from receiving 50 billion rials (~$119,000) in blood money for each victim in order to keep the dossier open among public opinion,” he said in a speech delivered on December 7, 2022.
The recent protests in Iran that began in September following the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the regime’s so-called “morality police” for not properly covering her hair, and the resulting revolution that has continued to this day, has injected new life in the efforts of PS752 victims’ families to seek justice. In their latest measure, they intend to take the mullahs’ regime to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Iranian exiles and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in the West have been holding rallies in memory of the PS752’s victims and calling on the international community to hold the regime accountable for their atrocities. These gatherings have been held in London, Paris, Washington, Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Heidelberg, Stockholm, Oslo, Gothenberg, Malmö, Vienna, Sydney, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Lawyers representing the families said on September 14 their clients have submitted an Article 15 Communication to Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC, providing information and evidence about crimes that occurred when IRGC missiles brought down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.
On December 28, the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752 issued a joint statement indicating that Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom “requested that Iran submits to binding arbitration of the dispute related to the downing of Flight PS752 by 2 surface-to-air missiles launched unlawfully and intentionally by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air defense unit pursuant to Article 14 of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation of 1971.”
Tehran has six months to respond and if the regime refuses, these four countries can officially refer the case to The Hague. The six-month period cannot be extended.
The passengers of Flight 752 were deliberately killed by the mullahs’ regime to prolong their rule. It is high time to haul the ayatollahs and their IRGC before justice.