Iran denies ‘cover-up’ over downed airliner

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s government denies a “cover-up” after it took days for the armed forces to admit a Ukrainian airliner was shot down by mistake last week.

The comments come after a second night of demonstrations in Tehran against the authorities over the air disaster, according to videos shared on social media.

The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 was shot down shortly after it took off from Tehran before dawn on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board. The Kyiv-bound airliner was brought down hours after Iran had launched a wave of missiles at US troops stationed at Iraqi bases in retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian general.

The Islamic Republic initially denied Western claims based on US intelligence that the passenger plane had been struck by a missile before admitting it on Saturday.

“In these sorrowful days, many criticisms were directed at relevant officials and authorities,” says government spokesman Ali Rabiei. “Some officials were even accused of lying and a cover-up but, in all honesty, that was not the case,” he says in remarks aired on state television.

“Lying is intentionally and knowingly faking the truth. Lying is covering up. Lying is knowing a fact and not expressing it or twisting the truth.”

Rabiei says all details provided by officials prior to Saturday’s admission had been based on the information available to them at the time: “All of those who expressed opinions on those days, at the peak of America’s psychological war against the Iranian nation… did so based on existing information at the time.”

— AFP