Iranian President Vows Vengeance Against 'Architects of Conspiracy'

Protests in Tehran (AP)
Protests in Tehran (AP)
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Iranian President Vows Vengeance Against 'Architects of Conspiracy'

Protests in Tehran (AP)
Protests in Tehran (AP)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said his government would take revenge from "the architects of the conspiracy."

The official IRNA news agency quoted Raisi as saying in a telephone conversation with the family of a deceased Basij officer that the responsible authorities are keen to take revenge from those responsible for this crime.

For his part, the spokesman for National Security and Foreign Policy Parliamentary Commission, Abolfazl Amouei, said that a group of conservative MPs discussed security developments with officials from the Ministry of Intelligence.

According to Tasnim News Agency, Amouei indicated that recent developments have social foundations, but at the same time, the revolution's enemies seek to destabilize the country.

He added that the lawmakers demanded a strict confrontation with the counter-revolutionary groups.

Judiciary spokesman, Masoud Satayshi, said that former reformist MP Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, faces charges of propaganda against the regime, calling for gatherings, and disrupting public order.

He announced that Hashemi was "temporarily detained."

Hashemi was arrested on the 11th night of the protests, and hours after her arrest, Tasnim Agency quoted an informed source saying that one of the security services had arrested her for "inciting protestors to create chaos."

A member of the Expediency Discernment Council, Mohammad Sadr, warned that the authority "cannot rule by force," noting that the developments following Mahsa Amini's death resulted from accumulated resentment and repeated demands of people, especially the young and women.

Sadr, who ran several times for the Foreign Minister position, told the Jamaran website that "the security vision itself threatens security," calling for a change in the security position of the ruling institution.

Several newspapers criticized the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and its Secretary General Mohammad Salih Hashemi Gulbaigani after he incited state agencies to impose strict veil laws.

The conservative Farheekhtegan newspaper headlined: "The Hate Production Factory," warning that the Commission's head and officials exacerbated social rifts.

Late Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to protest the UK's imposition of sanctions on Iran's morality police over the death of Amini.

The Ministry told the British ambassador that the sanctions imposed by the UK "are distorted and have no value for the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The ambassador was also informed that Iran "reserves its right to take countermeasures," state media added.

This is the third time Iran has summoned the British ambassador since the outbreak of protests last month.

Britain announced sanctions against Iran's morality police in its entirety as well as its chief, Mohammed Gachi, and the head of its Tehran division, Haj Ahmad Mirzaei in response to the violent suppression of protests since the death of Amini in police custody.

Recently, Western countries, including the United States and Canada, imposed sanctions on Iranian officials, accusing them of "suppressing" the protests.

The European Union is also considering imposing "restrictive measures" on Tehran.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, "The world is watching what is happening in Iran."

"These protestors are Iranian citizens, led by women and girls, demanding dignity and basic rights," Sullivan wrote on Twitter.

"We stand with them, and we will hold responsible those using violence in a vain effort to silence their voices."

Meanwhile, reformist Etemad newspaper quoted Iranian-US sociologist Asef Bayat saying people wish to take back the everyday life that has been taken away from them.

Bayat believes this movement seeks life, and the protesters feel that achieving basic demands is being violated by the ruling establishment, unaware of the people's hopes and suffering.

He indicated that former protests focused on economic and living issues. However, the current movement is "comprehensive and unified," able to bring together different classes and nationalities from all over the country.

The Emtedad website quoted Bayat as saying that "women have taken the lead in Iran in the struggle against the authoritarian regime."

He described the uprising in Iran as an all-encompassing movement that has gathered together all Iranians regardless of their social class and ethnicity.



Azerbaijani Minister Says Plane That Crashed Was Hit from the Outside, Possibly by a Weapon

A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)
A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)
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Azerbaijani Minister Says Plane That Crashed Was Hit from the Outside, Possibly by a Weapon

A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)
A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)

An Azerbaijani minister suggested Friday that an airliner that crashed this week was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor testimony indicating that the plane was struck from the outside.

The statement from Rashad Nabiyev raised pressure on Russia. Officials in Moscow have said a drone attack was underway in the region that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was destined for but have not addressed statements from aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian attack.

The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday when it turned toward Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land there. The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.

Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital development and transportation, told Azerbaijani media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” as does witness testimony.

“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” Nabiyev said.

Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.

Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli said that after one noise, the oxygen masks automatically released. She said that she went to perform first aid on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, and then they heard another bang.

Asadov said that the noises sounded like something hitting the plane from outside. He denied Kazakh officials’ claim that an oxygen canister exploded inside the plane.

Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, said Friday that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.

Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful attempts to land, he was offered other airports but decided to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea.

But he didn’t comment on statements from some aviation experts, who pointed out that holes seen in the plane’s tail section suggested that it could have come under fire from Russian air defense systems.

Ukrainian drones have previously attacked Grozny and other areas in the country’s North Caucasus.

Azerbaijan Airlines blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. It didn’t say where the interference came from or provide any further details.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the claims that the plane was hit by Russian air defenses, saying that it will be up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

“The air incident is being investigated, and we don’t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

If it’s proven that the plane crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses, it would be the second deadly civil aviation accident linked to fighting in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people aboard, as it flew over the area in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.

Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for their role in downing the plane with an air defense system brought into Ukraine from a Russian military base.

Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as part of the probe of Wednesday's crash, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement.

Following Wednesday's suspension of flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala, Azerbaijan Airlines announced Friday that it would also halt service to eight more Russian cities.

The company will continue to operate flights to six Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Those cities also have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes in the past.

Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air also announced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains for a month.

FlyDubai also halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russian for the next few days.

The day before, Israel's El Al carrier suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing “developments in Russia’s airspace." The airline said it would reassess the situation next week.