Khamenei's sermon amid anger over Flight 752 downing
A look back at the Friday sermon that came as Iranian public anger over the downing of a Ukrainian airliner was mounting.
How did Iran's Supreme Leader address the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet? On 17 January 2020, Ali Khamenei delivered a Friday sermon, his first in eight years, in which he defended the Revolutionary Guards over the accidental killing of passengers aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
In the same sermon, Khamenei praised Operation Martyr Soleimani, describing it as a "slap on the face" to the United States.
The address came as public anger against the Iranian government over its handling of Flight 752 was mounting. The aircraft had been shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on 8 January 2020, and its downing prompted anti-government protests in Iran. Those protests formed part of wider unrest in January 2020 that followed the crackdown on the 2019 Iranian protests.
The sermon thus placed the Supreme Leader's defence of the Guards alongside growing public criticism of the authorities over the loss of the airliner.
