President of Iran: Army apologise for the collapse of Ukrainian aircraft

Iran's President Hassan Rohan called for national unity, at a time when this country is facing protests, due to the collapse of a Ukrainian passenger plane a week ago.

Iran's air defence has shot the passenger plane just hours after hitting US bases in Iraq, in retaliation for the murder of Iranian Commander Qasem Solejmani, in a US attack on 3 January.

Iran has claimed responsibility for the plane crash several days later, which has led to the outbreak of anti-regime protests.

“People want to be sure that authorities treat them with sincerity, integrity and confidence”, Rohan said in a televised address Wednesday.

He called on the armed forces “to apologise” and explain to the people what happened in the tragedy.

Flight PS752 crashed after leaving Tehran on January 8th. All 176 people aboard have lost their lives. Most of the victims have been Iranian and Canadian citizens.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also said Wednesday that people are protesting “against the fact that they have been lying for several days”.

People make mistakes, make unforgivable mistakes. But this has happened in times of crisis. We need to make sure that such crises are prevented”, Zarif said.

He later praised Iran's army for, as he said, the courage to accept responsibility.