By Canadian Press

Airliner crash a mistake that pleased Iran’s enemies: Supreme Leader Khamenei

Jan 17, 2020 | 4:33 AM

Iran’s supreme leader says that the downing of a civilian airliner leaving Tehran was a bitter accident that saddened Iran and made its enemies happy.

In a rare sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran’s international rivals have seized on the crash to question the country and its armed forces.

The crash of a Ukraine International Airlines jet after it was hit by at least one surface-to-air missile last week killed 176 people, including 138 bound for Canada.

Khamenei also attacks the United States for its killing of a top Iranian general, which was a factor in putting Iranian air defences on a hair-trigger, and calls President Donald Trump a clown.

In London yesterday, Canada called a meeting of most of the countries affected and laid out demands for Iran’s co-operation with the investigation, punishing those responsible, and compensating victims’ families.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2020.

—With files from The Associated Press

The Canadian Press