Iran denied a “cover-up” Monday after taking days to reveal an airliner was accidentally shot down last week, a disaster that sparked demonstrations and calls for a fully transparent investigation.
“In these sorrowful days, many criticisms were directed at relevant officials and authorities,” said government spokesman Ali Rabiei.
“Some officials were even accused of lying and a cover-up but, in all honesty, that was not the case,” he said. “Lying is intentionally and knowingly faking the truth. Lying is covering up. Lying is knowing a fact and not expressing it or twisting the truth.”
The spokesman said all details provided by officials prior to Saturday’s revelation had been based on the information available to them at the time. “All of those who expressed opinions on those days, at the peak of America’s psychological war against the Iranian nation... did so based on existing information at the time.”
Meanwhile, Iranian anti-government protests were met with tear gas and left at least one person wounded, videos on social media appeared to show on Monday.
Videos show large crowds chanting slogans against the country’s authorities in Tehran’s iconic Azadi Square south of the centre.
In a video purporting to be from the city of Amol in the Mazandaran region on the Caspian Sea, a crowd marches, shouting, “We don’t want the Islamic republic”.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said that the Iranians must be allowed to “protest peacefully and freely” and express their “grief” after the plane disaster.
