Iran arrests person behind viral plane attack video

Iran said it has arrested the person who filmed the footage showing a Ukrainian passenger plane being shot down by a missile, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Iran announced on Saturday that its military “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian jetliner on January 8, killing all 176 aboard, after the government had repeatedly denied Western accusations that it was responsible.

A video that has gone viral shows the missile targeting the airplane shortly after it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International airport.

According to the BBC, Iranian media reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had taken a person who posted a video online last week of the missile striking the plane into custody.

An Iranian journalist based in London, who the BBC said initially posted the footage online, said in a Twitter post that authorities had arrested the wrong person.

“The person who is the source of the video is SAFE and I can assure you IRGC is orchestrating another lie,” Nariman Gharib said in the tweet.

Another video published by the New York Times Tuesday shows verified security camera footage showing two missiles gliding through the sky before hitting the passenger jet.

Iran announced on Tuesday several arrests had been made in connection to the atrocity, but no further details were shared.