Surveillance footage from last week shows two separate Iranian missiles bringing down a Ukrainian airliner.
The new video, released by the New York Times on Tuesday, shows two missiles fired about 30 seconds apart hitting the commercial jet and causing it to crash. The downing killed all 176 on board, many of whom were Iranian citizens.
The footage sheds light on how the plane was brought down. It shows that the first missile to hit the jet took out the aircraft’s transponder, and then 23 seconds later, a second hit caused further damage. An earlier recording of the attack appeared to show just one missile striking the doomed airliner.
The new video captured the plane trying to circle back to Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport before it exploded and plummeted to the ground. The victims of Wednesday’s crash included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British nationals.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that dozens of Iranians have been arrested in the country over the crash, though he blamed the “root cause” of the deaths on the United States and tensions between the two countries.
The aircraft’s crash came just hours after the Iranian military lobbed more than a dozen short-range ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops. Photos released on Monday show the aftermath of the Iranian missile attacks.
Since the crash, protesters at universities and cities across Iran began protesting the Iranian regime over the attack on the airliner.
Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and co-leader of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, has encouraged the demonstrations, which began in Tehran and have since spread to other cities.
“Time has come for the international community to acknowledge the reality that the religious fascism ruling Iran does not represent the Iranian people and recognize the national call for the overthrow of the mullahs,” Rajavi said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
Protesters on Tuesday chanted slogans that included, “Be afraid, be afraid, we are all together!” and “Death to oppressor, whether it be the Shah or the [supreme] leader!”
