BEIRUT _ Iranian security forces stepped up patrols in Tehran, seeking to quell further anti-government protests after the regime admitted downing a Ukrainian passenger jet, triggering anger on the streets and global outrage.
Videos on social media, which couldn't immediately be verified by Bloomberg, showed motorcycle-mounted security forces in green camouflage and anti-riot body armor stationed on the city's Valiasr square on Sunday morning. There was also a heavy police presence outside Tehran university.
In the face of the growing tensions, some of the organizers of a candlelight vigil Saturday that turned into an angry protest against the regime, were urging people on social media to avoid a rally initially planned for 6 p.m., local time, at the city's landmark Azadi Square.
Anger spread across the globe after Iran's leaders admitted that the military accidentally shot down the Ukrainian jetliner on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, after mistaking it for a cruise missile. The announcement marked a dramatic reversal after the regime spent days denying it had downed the jet, accusing Western governments of "psychological warfare."
Large crowds of students demonstrated outside Amir Kabir University in downtown Tehran late Saturday for the candlelight vigil, according to witnesses, before starting chants of "death to the dictator" and "resignation is not enough, a trial is needed!" Security forces intervened to disperse the demonstrators. The British Ambassador to Iran Rob Macaire was briefly detained after he attended the vigil.
Others used social media to vent their anger, contrasting the plane deaths with reports that the Iranian attack on the Iraqi bases on Wednesday when the plane was downed was specifically designed not to injure Americans.
The government's admission that Iran's security forces hold ultimate responsibility for the downing of the plane _ albeit at a time of conflict with their chief foe _ is a further blow for the country's ruling clerics at a time when the economy has been devastated by U.S. sanctions. The admission appears to have undercut the sense of national unity that built after the Jan. 3 killing by the U.S. of Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani _ a hero to many Iranians for his work in Iraq and Syria helping to defeat Islamic State.
"We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage," Trump said Saturday in a tweet posted in Farsi and English.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Saturday said he was "outraged" and "furious" by the admission that Iran had shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752. At least 57 Canadians were among the dead.
"What Iran has admitted to is very serious. Shooting down a civilian aircraft is horrific. Iran must take full responsibility," Trudeau said Saturday at a press briefing in Ottawa. He earlier declared the incident a national tragedy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised address that he wants a full admission of guilt by Iran for what authorities there called a "disastrous mistake."
Ukraine and Iran will work jointly to decode the black boxes of the doomed Ukrainian Boeing jet, Zelenskiy said. The Ukrainian government will make payments to the families of each of those who died in the crash, he said.
"I urge all international partners of Ukraine, the entire world community, to be united and to keep pressing until the full and final investigation into all the circumstances of this catastrophe is delivered," said Zelenskiy.
Trudeau and his British counterpart Boris Johnson called for justice for the victims, and signaled that the disaster reinforced the need for a de-escalation of hostilities in the Gulf region.
A senior Trump administration official, who declined to be identified, said the tragedy showed Iran's "reckless actions have again had devastating consequences."
The three-year-old Boeing Co. 737-800 was shot down about two minutes after takeoff from Tehran. The tragedy occurred hours after Iran started launching rockets against Iraqi bases where U.S. forces are stationed, in retaliation for Soleimani's targeted killing. Nearly half the victims were Iranians, while many of the other passengers, including citizens of Canada, Sweden and the U.K., were of Iranian descent, a reflection of the ambition that pushes thousands to leave Iran each year to work and study in the West.
The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's aerospace force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, blamed the tragedy on a communications failure. The operative who first mistakenly identified the plane as an incoming missile failed to get a second opinion due to a "disturbance" and had only 10 seconds to make a decision, he said. The army had previously said that "culprits" would be turned over to judicial authorities.
"When I was certain that this incident had occurred, I truly wished death upon myself, because I'd rather have died than witness such an incident," Hajizadeh said in a briefing Saturday in Tehran.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered his condolences to the victims of the Ukrainian flight, while President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic "deeply regrets the disastrous mistake" and vowed compensation for the families of victims.
_With assistance from Alan Levin, Siraj Datoo, John Harney, Jon Morgan and Daryna Krasnolutska.
