Iranian President Hassan Rouhani placed the blame for his country’s downing of an airliner on the United States.
Rouhani said on Tuesday that dozens of Iranians have been arrested in the country for firing a missile at a Ukrainian jet and killing all 176 people on board. Despite the arrests, Rouhani claimed that the “root cause” of the crash was America.
“It was the U.S. that caused such an incident to take place,” Rouhani insisted, according to the country’s state-run media outlet Tasnim. Rouhani contended that the incident occurred because of the tense atmosphere between the U.S. and Iran.
This weekend, Rouhani admitted that the missile was fired due to “human error,” causing the “horrific crash.” Protesters took to the streets at universities and cities across the country and are still protesting after the disclosure.
The victims of Wednesday’s crash included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British nationals.
The plane was shot down right after Iran launched more than a dozen short-range ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq containing U.S. troops. The attack was in retaliation for the U.S. operation that ended in the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in Iraq.
On Tuesday, students at the University of Tehran gathered to protest in front of the college’s mosque. They 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.”
