Iran's anger over Flight 752 after Khamenei's sermon
A look back at the public mood in Iran as of 23 January 2020, days after a Friday sermon addressed the downing of a Ukrainian airliner.
What was the public mood in Iran on 23 January 2020, in the days after the country's Supreme Leader addressed the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752?
On 17 January 2020, Ali Khamenei gave a Friday sermon, his first in eight years. He defended the Revolutionary Guards over the accidental killing of passengers on board the flight, and praised Operation Martyr Soleimani for giving a "slap on the face" to the United States, as reported at the time. The sermon came as public anger mounted against the government over its handling of the Flight 752 disaster.
The flight had been shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran on 8 January 2020. The revelation prompted anti-government protests, which formed part of the spillover clashes of January 2020 resulting from the crackdown on the 2019 Iranian protests.
By 23 January 2020, the sermon and the anger surrounding it remained part of the backdrop to the unrest over the loss of the Ukrainian airliner.
