A group of Iranian protesters has demanded Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei step down after Tehran said its military mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 people on board.
“Commander-in-chief [Khamenei] resign, resign,” videos posted on Twitter showed hundreds of people chanting in front of Tehran’s Amir Kabir University on Saturday.
Others on Twitter asked why the plane was allowed to take off when tensions in Iran were so high.
Fars news agency reported that Iranian police dispersed students that were chanting “radical” slogans during the gathering in Tehran.
The students chanted slogans denouncing “liars” and demanded the resignation and prosecution of those responsible for downing the plane and allegedly covering up the accidental action.
Fars said the protesting students chanted “destructive” and “radical” slogans.
Earlier on Saturday, Iran said its military had shot down the Ukrainian plane, calling it a “disastrous mistake”.
Iran denied for days after Wednesday’s crash that it brought down the plane, although a top Revolutionary Guards commander on Saturday said he had told authorities about the unintentional missile strike the day it happened.
The military claimed air defences were fired in error during an alert which was imposed after Iranian missile struck US targets in Iraq.
