As protests continued in Iran over the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, United States President Donald Trump, has warned the country’s leaders not to kill its protesters.
“To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!”, Trump wrote in a tweet sighted by Igbere TV Sunday.
President Trump’s warning is coming hours after Iranian police were caught using tear gas on protesters who are angry at the government’s handling of the ‘plane crash’ incident.
The Iranian government had openly admitted to have “mistakenly” shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet killing all 176 people on board — days after initial denials, Igbere TV reports.
Dozens of protesters were seen on the streets with activists calling for mass mourning rallies, raising the possibility of fresh clashes between protesters and security forces.
The British ambassador to Iran, Robert Macaire was also briefly arrested on Saturday. He was, however, released shortly after he was identified, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said on Sunday.
The Ukraine jet bound for Kyiv, Ukraine, crashed minutes after takeoff from the Airport on Wednesday. It happened hours after Iran launched missile attacks on US forces in Iraq in retaliation for the US assassination of top Iranian commander, Qassem Soleimani.
A leader of Iran’s opposition Green Movement, Mehdi Karroubi, on Sunday called on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step down over the handling of the downed airliner.
“You, as the commander in chief of the armed forces, are directly responsible for this,” he said in a statement obtained by Igbere TV.
“If you were aware and you let military and security authorities deceive people, then there is no doubt you lack the attributes of constitutional leadership.”
On his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran “lied intentionally” about the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752.
“They knew from the start that they had downed it. They knew that it was an unintentional downing, but lied intentionally,” Netanyahu said in a tweet sighted by Igbere TV.
