Iran Prosecutor Says 10 Indicted for 2020 Plane Shootdown

General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran. (File photo: Reuters)
General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran. (File photo: Reuters)
TT

Iran Prosecutor Says 10 Indicted for 2020 Plane Shootdown

General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran. (File photo: Reuters)
General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran. (File photo: Reuters)

Iranian media are quoting the outgoing military prosecutor of Tehran as saying that 10 officials have been indicted for the 2020 shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane.

Tehran military prosecutor Gholamabbas Torki made the comment Tuesday while handing over his office to Nasser Seraj.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency and the Iranian judiciary's Mizan new agency both reported the remarks, without elaborating.

Following three days of denial in January 2020 in the face of mounting evidence, Iran finally acknowledged that its forces mistakenly downed the Ukrainian jetliner with two surface-to-air missiles. All 176 people aboard the plane were killed.

In preliminary reports on the disaster last year, Iranian authorities blamed an air defense operator who they said mistook the Boeing 737-800 for an American cruise missile, The Associated Press reported.

The shootdown happened the same day Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on US troops in Iraq in retaliation for an American drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.



Netanyahu Says Iran’s Government Fears Its People More than Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 13, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 13, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Netanyahu Says Iran’s Government Fears Its People More than Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 13, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 13, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday in a direct message to Iranians that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's government feared the people of Iran more than Israel.

"That’s why they spend so much time and money trying to crush your hopes and curb your dreams," he said in a video message. "Well, I say to you this: Don’t let your dreams die. I hear the whispers: Women, Life, Freedom. Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.

"Don't lose hope. And know that Israel and others in the free world stand with you," Netanyahu said.