The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board. In his first Friday lecture since 2012, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended the IRGC in the face of growing criticism.
Khamenei’s speech comes at a time when Iran and its leaders are under a lot of pressure at home and abroad. This is because the US killed General Qassem Soleimani, who was the former leader of the elite Quds Force, and people are angry at Iran’s military for crashing a commercial airliner soon after it took off from Tehran on January 8.
The US president quickly responded to what the Iranian leader said. On Friday evening, he wrote on social media, “He should be very careful with his words.”
In a different post, he said that Iranians “deserve a government that is more interested in helping them reach their goals than killing them for demanding respect.”
Khamenei called the plane crash a “bitter” disaster in his sermon earlier on Friday. He also said that “Iran’s enemies” used the crash and the military’s admission to “weaken” the IRGC.
Khamenei said, “The plane crash was a bitter mistake; it burned through our hearts.”
“But some tried to paint a picture that would make people forget the great death and sacrifice” of Soleimani, he said, referring to the head of the IRGC’s foreign operations arm who was killed.
“People who were against us were just as happy about the plane crash as we were.” “I am glad they found a reason to question the Guard, the military, and the system.”
A big prayer hall in the middle of Tehran was packed with thousands of people who came to hear Khamenei’s speech. Cheered “Death to America,” they filled the area and streets outside the building.
The IGC, an elite military group that reports directly to Khamenei as the guardian of the Islamic Republic, first denied having anything to do with the plane crash. On January 11, they finally admitted that one of their air defense operators had accidentally shot down Ukraine Airlines International flight 752.
Iran’s government said earlier this week that several people had been held in connection with the Ukrainian airliner incident.
But the plane crash and late admissions led to protests in Tehran and other places. In response, the government sent riot police to universities, where many students were protesting.
Online videos showed that marchers were hit, and the videos also showed gunshots, tear gas, and blood in the streets. Iran’s cops said they were not firing at the protesters and that they had been told to be calm.
From Tehran, Assed Baig of Al Jazeera said that Khamenei’s first public speech in eight years was called for because of the stress and pressure Iran has been under since the recent events.
Baig said, “Khamenei usually comes out to get people behind him and cool things down. That is pretty much what he did today here in Tehran.”
“Hand of God”
Khamenei also defended the missile attacks on US targets in Iraq in response to the killing of Soleimeni. He said that they showed that Iran had divine backing in giving a world power a “slap on the face.”
“The fact that Iran can hit a world power so hard like that shows the hand of God,” Khamenei said. He also said that the killing of Soleimani by the US showed Washington’s “terrorist face.”
At first, the US said that none of its troops were hurt in the missile strikes, but on Thursday it said that 11 of its soldiers were treated for concussions.
Trump killed Soleimani with a drone strike on January 3. He was in charge of building up proxy forces across the region after pulling the US out of a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and putting back sanctions, which made things worse.
Khamenei praised Soleimani and said that what he did outside of Iran’s borders was for the “security” of the country. He also said that the people support being “firm” and “resisting” foes.
“Are those few hundred people who cursed at the picture of General Soleimani really the people of Iran?” Or this crowd of a million people in the streets?” He seemed to be talking about the fact that protesters in Tehran were said to have torn down a portrait of the dead leader just a few days after his funeral, where hundreds of thousands of people had come to honor him.
Khamenei said that the US was “lying” when it said it supported the Iranian people.
“It is to stab them with their poison sword,” he said, even if they were with the people.
Khamenei also said on Friday that three European countries that signed the 2015 nuclear pact “cannot be trusted.” This was in response to the UK, France, and Germany using a formal dispute process in the agreement, which could mean that UN sanctions are put back in place.
Baig says that Khamenei said that the European countries that were part of the nuclear deal were like “a steel hand in a silk glove.”
Khamenei is more than just a spiritual leader, Baig said. “He is the political and religious leader of Iran.” “And how he attacked the Europeans could mean that Iran changes how it deals with those three European countries.”
