65 on plane die in crash
TEHRAN, IRAN» An Iranian commercial airplane brought back into service only months ago after being grounded for seven years crashed Sunday, and officials said all 65 people on board were killed.
The crash of the Aseman Airlines ATR-72 marks yet another fatal aviation disaster for Iran, which for years was barred from buying airplane parts for needed maintenance because of Western sanctions over its contested nuclear program.
Its nuclear accord with world powers allows it to get those parts, and the country has made deals worth tens of billions of dollars for new aircraft. However, President Donald Trump’s refusal to recertify the deal has injected uncertainty into those sales while Iranians still fly in aging aircraft.
The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down near its destination of the southern Iranian city of Yasuj, about 485 miles south of the Iranian capital, where it took off.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crash, although weather was severe in the area. Dense fog, high winds and heavy snow in the Zagros Mountains made it impossible for rescue crews in helicopters to reach the site Sunday, state televi-
Plan ec rash i n Ir an
sion reported.
Aseman Airlines spokesman Mohammad Taghi Tabatabai said those on board included 59 passengers and six crew members, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday night.
Khamenei apologizes, says Iran must be more just.
Iran’s supreme leader extended a rare apology on behalf of the Islamic Republic after signs of public discontent in recent months, saying that authorities need to work harder at establishing justice in the country.
“People have complaints about some of the country’s existing issues” and officials “well aware,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday, according to the state-run Mehr news agency. The public’s criticism “is not only directed at the government, the parliament and judiciary. Maybe some also criticize me.”
The Islamic Republic has progressed in the past decade but it’s “behind when it comes to justice,” Khamenei told an audience of Iranians from the northern city of Tabriz. “We need to apologize to people and to God” and “work at doing better in this area too.”
The remarks by the country’s highest authority were a rare acknowledgment that popular discontent — apparent in angry protests that erupted in several cities in December — may not have been restricted to economic issues or limited to President Hassan Rouhani’s administration but also frustration with the political establishment’s shortcomings. — Bloomberg News