German flag carrier airline Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have cancelled flights to and from Iran until further notice after a dead body was found in a Lufthansa aircraft.
The body was discovered on Thursday in the undercarriage of the Airbus that arrived at Frankfurt airport from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport after the passengers of flight LH 601 had left the aircraft and the A340 had been moved to a hangar for maintenance.
“In a routine check of a Lufthansa plane coming from Tehran after landing in Frankfurt, a dead body was found in the plane’s landing gear bay,” Lufthansa said in an email seen by Iran International, adding that Tehran flights will be suspended until circumstances of incident are clarified.
Director General of Imam Khomeini International Airport Saeed Chalandari said Lufthansa’s representative informed them about the incident by phone, adding that the issue cannot be followed up without written documents. Iran’s Foreign Ministry also announced that no documented evidence has been received from the German side yet.
The incident comes amid nationwide turmoil in Iran, ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the Islamic Republic's so-called morality – or hijab -- police for "improper attire" and died in police custody.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said earlier in the week that Berlin is mulling over more restrictions for entry of individuals affiliated with the Islamic Republic beyond an already announced EU sanctions package over Tehran’s human rights violations, adding that visas will be issued to holders of service and diplomatic passports only where absolutely necessary.
Germany has a large Iranian population, tens of thousands of which took to the streets of Berlin on October 22 in solidarity with the ongoing antigovernment protests in Iran.
"A bombing in Mo'ali Abad Street in Shiraz was detected and foiled by the Revolutionary Guards intelligence," Sepah news said, without giving further details.
There is no possibility to verify IRGC's claim, as the ideological-military-business organization and also Iran's Intelligence Ministry in the past have made numerous similar claims without presenting any evidence. In most cases no public trial of suspects were held or even names released.
The IRGC-linked Fars News quoted “an informed security source in Shiraz” as saying that the remotely-controlled bomb was found and neutralized by security forces and intelligence ministry agents after the gun attack on Shahcheragh shrine.
Wednesday's shooting, which was claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group, killed 15 including children and injured dozens more at the Shahcheragh shrine. Officials said they had arrested a gunman who carried out the attack at the shrine. The attack took place amid widespread antigovernment protests across the country which began nearly two months ago following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, on September 16.
The Iranian government has organized nationwide demonstrations against the shooting following Friday prayers. Funerals were also due to take place for the victims. Officials said they had arrested a gunman who carried out the attack at the shrine.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed on Thursday to retaliate against those threatening the country's security without further elaboration as to whether this meant those responsible for the attack, protesters, or both.
"We will take revenge for the blood of the martyrs of Shiraz," said Tehran Friday prayer Imam Haj Ali Akbari about the attack on the shrine.
Many Iranians did not trust the authorities or believe that ISIS was responsible for the attack. They accuse the regime of being behind the attack or orchestrating it to blame protesters at home for causing unrest and insecurity and justify harsher crackdown against opponents.
On October 23, US Special envoy for Iran Rob Malley sent out a tweet that became a source of controversy and triggered a strong backlash from Iranian-Americans and others. Malley wrote that protesters in Iran wanted “their government” to respect them and safeguard human rights, while clearly, they simply reject the Islamic Republic and want a secular, democratic government.
Iranian activists began an online campaign against Malley, even demanding his resignation.
Malley on Monday admitted that his choice of words was wrong, in an interview with Iran International, and the new line from the State Department became, “We cannot speak on behalf of Iranian protesters.”
Reporters on Wednesday asked the deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel again how the US would characterize the demands of the protesters, or what is the US government’s understanding about their demands.
Patel, again avoided an answer, saying that no one in the US government “should claim or can claim to speak for these protesters; only they can do that. And we, our role is to continue to take steps and take practical efforts to use the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable for what we are seeing happen across Iran.”
But pressed further, Patel did begin to characterize the aspiration of the Iranian protesters. “What we are seeing is the Iranian people demand basic human rights, rights of expression, as this started in the death of Mahsa Amini, and we’re seeing the Iranian people make their voices heard. But I don’t have any other specific assessment to offer.”
Saying that the Iranian people want “basic human rights” is not much different from what Rob Malley said a few days earlier.
Meanwhile, Iranian activist and women’s rights advocate Masih Alinejad has launched an online petition demanding Malley’s resignation that has collected nearly 100,000 signatures.
Tehran has been claiming from the start of the protests that the United States and “other enemies” are behind the unrest, because Iran has become “too powerful,” as President Ebrahim Raisi said this week, and they want to weaken it.
It is not clear if the Biden Administration is concerned that if it speaks about the real demand of the protesters, it might help Iran’s unsubstantiated claims, or it is just loath to uttering ‘regime change’, a term more popular with the former Trump administration.
Former President Donald Trump who pulled the United States out of the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran imposed ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions on Tehran and his administration officials had no qualms about calling the clerical regime the main cause of trouble in the region.
Otherwise, the White House has been outspoken about the need to condemn the Islamic Republic for its violent crackdown on unarmed protesters. The administration has imposed sanctions on a series of Iranian officials and also adopted a tough position against Iranian drone deliveries to Russia that have terrorized Ukrainian civilians.
Fars news agency – affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – reported that scores of pro-regime students gathered outside the embassy building “in protest to the British government's hostile actions against the security of the Iranian nation.”
The participants also chanted slogans against the United States and Saudi Arabia as well as the United Kingdom. They also carried banners against the London-based Persian news channels such as BBC Persian. In their banners, they also changed the main motto of the current wave of protests from “Women, Life, Liberty” to “Women, Life, Martyrdom.”
Last week, Iran sanctioned several British individuals and entities over “activities that have led to unrest, violence, and terrorist acts against the Iranian nation.”
These included Tom Tugendhat, Minister of State for Security, Commodore Don Mackinnon, British naval commander in the Persian Gulf, and Steve McCabe, member of parliament ad Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, as well as media outlets and their owners including BBC Persian and Iran International.
On Wednesday, Iran announced a new set of sanctions against institutions and individuals in the European Union, alleging that they incite violence in the country.
A group of Canadian and British lawmakers and politicians have urged their respective governments to take measures to stop Iran’s brutal crackdown on protesters.
On October 22, Iran's hardliner Judiciary said Persian-speaking TV channels based in London, including Iran International, must be designated as “terrorist groups”.
