Protests in Iran After Regime Admits to Downing Airliner // FAI ONLINE

Iranians shout slogans as one of them holds-up a placard with a Persian script that reads, Death To The Liar, during a gathering to mark the victims of the Ukraine Boeing 737 passenger plane, in Tehrans business district on January 11, 2020. (Credit: Morteza Nikoubazl, NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Iran entered its second day of massive street protests across the country, as millions of young Iranians took to the streets in protest against the regime after it admitted Friday to mistakenly downing a commercial airliner with an anti-aircraft missile.

A video posted on social media showing the Ukrainian airlines explode and disintegrate in mid-air after being struck by the missile forced the regime to publicly admit responsibility. All 176 passengers and crew were killed, including 82 Iranian nationals. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps mistook the airliner for an American warplane, expecting an attack after having just struck two military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the US drone strike on IRGC commander Qassam Soleimani. Photos of the victims were widely shared across the world, including in Iran, where public anger boiled over against a regime which a large millennial generation views as both incompetent and aggressive.

Hundreds of videos have been uploaded to social media from Iran in the last 24 hours, despite official attempts to cut off public access to the Internet, showing crowds of Iranians tearing down pictures of the supposedly-revered Soleimani, driving over posters of Supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and chanting at Basij militia members sent to intimidate and attack them. Other videos show marchers intentionally avoid trampling the flags of the United States and Israel painted on the ground, and chanting, “They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here.”

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US President Trump has even tweeted in Farsi several times in the past two days, praising and encouraging the protesters, and calling the regime to account. There have been multiple reports of attacks against protesters by Iranian security forces as the demonstrations have grown in size and assertiveness.

At the same time, another missile strike against Balad military base in Iraq has been reported tonight. Although no US personnel were killed or wounded, there were several casualties against Iraqi soldiers. The attack bears all the hallmarks of previous attacks against joint Iraqi-US bases by Iranian-sponsored militias in Iraq. The Iranian regime has previously used attacks by its proxies across the region as a way to distract its populace from domestic unrest, corruption and oppression, and concern is growing that the regime may act in desperation against the United States and Israel in an attempt to consolidate its control over its own people and its satellites in the region. Already, Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has called for vengeance in the death of his mentor Soleimani during an address to his followers. Recent reports that Israel may have helped the US pinpoint Soleimani’s schedule and location just prior to his assassination may be the pretext that Iran and Hezbollah need to attack the Jewish State and to mobilize the Iranian homeland in a state of emergency.

It appears that the season of change across the Middle East and the watershed events in Iraq over the last week are bringing the brewing conflict against the Iranian regime to a head. We invite our global partners to pray with us and partner with us during this critical window of time. Recent upheavals in Syria and Iraq due to the provocative actions of the Iranian and Turkish regimes are opening paths for Good News that have been closed for centuries. By the grace of a sovereign and merciful God, it’s time for us to walk those paths together.