Monday, March 20, 2023
 
 

Protests grow after Iran admits to downing airliner

- Advertisement -

Nationwide protests in Iran escalated over the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane, that killed all 176 people on board.
Earlier, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said an investigation into the tragedy had found “missiles fired due to human error” brought down the plane, and called it an “unforgivable mistake”.
Violence erupted in Tehran’s Azadi Square, with police using tear gas at protesters who called for the responsible to be prosecuted, as well as for supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down.
Videos showed up on social media with people shouting: “Death to the dictator”, and “Khamenei have shame. Leave the country”.
Adding to the chaos, Iranian authorities detained and later released Britain’s ambassador, Rob Macaire. He said he was detained for half an hour on 11 January after attending a protest in Tehran. Iran’s media said that he had been arrested “for taking part in the protest”. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, ambassadors have diplomatic immunity.
The British foreign secretary Dominic Raab called the move a violation of international law: “The Iranian government is at a cross-roads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails, or take steps to deescalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards”, he said.
The EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell also warned Iran: “Full respect of the Vienna convention is a must. The EU calls for de-escalation and space for diplomacy”.
Protests in sympathy to the victims were also held in front of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. German chancellor Angela Merkel and British prime minister Boris Johnson spoke of Macaire’s arrest, and later issued a statement by a spokesperson:
“On Iran, they discussed the tragic loss of life on the Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet. They condemned Iran’s arrest of the UK Ambassador to Tehran as a violation of international law,” the spokesman said, and added: “The leaders also discussed our shared interests in ensuring Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, and reaffirmed their continued commitment to preserving the JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal)”.
Amidst rising tensions with the US, Iran said it would abandon the 2015 nuclear deal, that the country signed together with the US, France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China, but US president Donald Trump abandoned it in 2018.
The leaders of France, Germany and the UK, in joint statement urged Iran to “return to full compliance with its commitments” under the deal.

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Latest

EU-Turkey earthquake relief conference: Time to get serious

The European Union is hosting a reconstruction conference in...

Cambodia’s current government is the face of tropical Fascism

There is no hope that the authoritarianism that the world sees in places like Russia, China and Cambodia can ever be interpreted as a peaceful and benign phenomenon, or that it should be accepted by an implicit racist or discriminatory assumption that some cultures just don’t have a democratic tradition and aren’t quite capable of ever developing one.

Energy supply diversification out of Russia’s orbit is a top priority for Bulgaria

Bulgaria intends to diversify its energy resources, including supplying...

Recovery from the disaster of the century needs more than a few months of international assistance

Two devastating earthquakes hit the Turkish-Syrian border on February...

Don't miss

EU-Turkey earthquake relief conference: Time to get serious

The European Union is hosting a reconstruction conference in...

Cambodia’s current government is the face of tropical Fascism

There is no hope that the authoritarianism that the world sees in places like Russia, China and Cambodia can ever be interpreted as a peaceful and benign phenomenon, or that it should be accepted by an implicit racist or discriminatory assumption that some cultures just don’t have a democratic tradition and aren’t quite capable of ever developing one.

Energy supply diversification out of Russia’s orbit is a top priority for Bulgaria

Bulgaria intends to diversify its energy resources, including supplying...

Recovery from the disaster of the century needs more than a few months of international assistance

Two devastating earthquakes hit the Turkish-Syrian border on February...

Georgia has shown the world that a Kremlin project can be defeated

Over the past few days, the world’s attention was...

Opponents of ayatollahs vow Iranian women will transform the country into a democratic republic

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi say a democratic revolution is unfolding in Iran. Rajavi was the keynote speaker of an international conference in Brussels on...

Iranian diaspora’s push for democracy: Rejects the past, advocates for the future

In recent rallies and conferences, including in Paris, Berlin, London, Belgium, Oslo, Rome, Washington, DC and Toronto, Iranian expatriates and associated organizations have called...

Thousands of Iranians hold pro-democracy rally in Paris

On a cold and wintry day in Paris, some 10,000 supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, gathered to mark...

NE Global interviews Iran’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi

Iranians have tried every other possible way to work for change, for many years. Those who thought they could reform the regime have continually been disappointed. Now they know that they have no other solution.

Political prisoners in Iran do not bow to the absolute authority of the Supreme Leader

The legal system of the Islamic Republic is in no way compliant with the requirements of modern international laws or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ignored for too long, Europe should realize a democratic Iran is closer than ever

The unity of urban intellectuals and the more underprivileged sectors of Iranian society poses a unique challenge to the regime.

Iran’s protests underscore the strength and viability of a democratic alternative

The mullahs are struggling to maintain their hold on power. Western nations should support the people’s will by further isolating the regime, closing Iranian embassies and halting diplomatic relations. The clerical regime may have once seemed an immovable fixture of the Middle East landscape, but this isn’t the case any longer.

Azerbaijan’s opening of an embassy in Israel is a major tectonic shift on the regional geopolitical map

With the regional geopolitical situation as it is, and amidst pressure and threats on multiple fronts, Azerbaijan has responded with a key decision to bolster relations with a key ally by formally opening an embassy in Israel.