
Anti-government protests in Iran have entered a third day today after Tehran finally abandoned its pretence and admitted shooting down a passenger jet.

Dozens of protesters chanted slogans at a Tehran university today amid a wave of public anger after the plane was shot down with dozens of Iranians on board.

A string of Iranian celebrities have also turned on the regime and two state TV hosts have quit over Tehran's three days of false reporting on the crash.

Leading Iranian film director Masoud Kimiai has pulled out of Tehran's annual Fajr Film Festival in protest, saying he was 'on the side of the public'.

A prominent singer, Alireza Assar, has also cancelled a concert in a bid to show support for the protests which resumed over the weekend.

Iran's only female Olympic medallist Kimia Alizadeh has already announced her defection from the Islamic republic, piling further pressure on the regime.

Tehran is now signalling de-escalation in the stand-off with the United States which had sparked fears of a Middle East conflict.

Dozens of protesters gathered and chanted slogans at a Tehran university today amid a wave of public anger over the crash which killed 176 people after Iran shot down a plane

Dozens of protesters gathered at a Tehran university today where demonstrators chanted: 'They killed our elites and replaced them with clerics'

Anti-government protests in Iran have entered a third day today with the initial public solidarity over Qassem Soleimani's death giving way to anger at the regime

Dozens of protesters gathered and chanted slogans at a Tehran university today amid a wave of public anger over the crash

Iranian film director Masoud Kimiai (left) and singer Alireza Assar (right) have both cancelled events amid public anger at the regime for shooting down a passenger jet

Iran's only female Olympic medallist Kimia Alizadeh (pictured) has already announced her defection from the Islamic republic, piling further pressure on the regime

Dozens of protesters gathered at a Tehran university today where demonstrators chanted: 'They killed our elites and replaced them with clerics.'

Students were heard chanting 'clerics get lost' outside universities in the city of Ishafan, a major city south of Tehran.

The capital's police chief claimed today that the security situation in the capital was 'fine' despite the protests, with riot police deployed to face the protesters.

Donald Trump 'approved Soleimani killing seven months ago' Donald Trump authorised the killing of Qassem Soleimani seven months ago, it has emerged. The presidential order last June approved the principle of killing Soleimani if US nationals were killed by Iranian aggression, officials told NBC News. Then-national security advisor John Bolton is said to have lobbied for the move after Iran shot down a US drone that month, although the idea had been circulating in the White House since 2017. As a result, an attack on Soleimani was presented to Trump as one of the options when a US contractor was killed by Iranian proxies in Iraq last month. Although Trump had approved the killing in principle, he still had to give the green light to the specific operation, it is believed. The drone strike was carried out near Baghdad airport on January 3, killing the general and his Iraqi right-hand-man, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's foreign arm - the Quds Force - was seen by many as the second-most powerful person in Iran behind supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The White House said at the time that Soleimani had been planning an 'imminent attack', although some in Congress have questioned that justification. Trump said on Friday that Iran had targeted the US embassy in Baghdad and was aiming to attack another four US missions before Soleimani was killed. But Defense Secretary Mark Esper said yesterday that there was no specific evidence pointing to such attacks. Asked whether Trump was 'embellishing' the threat, Esper said, 'I don't believe so.' Advertisement

General Hossein Rahimi denied reports that police had shot at protesters and said officers had been ordered to show 'restraint'.

'The police treated the people who had gathered with patience and tolerance,' he said before the latest protests broke out.

Anti-government protests resumed in Tehran at the weekend with pro-regime gunmen accused of opening fire on demonstrators yesterday.

Riot police armed with water cannon and batons were seen at Amir Kabir, Sharif and Tehran universities as well as Enqelab Square, while there was also a heavy police presence around the iconic Azadi Square.

Around 50 Basij militiamen brandishing paintball guns, potentially to mark protesters to authorities, were also seen near Amir Kabir.

Last night students packed the gates of Amirkabir University of Technology near the former US embassy to protest against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Protesters chanted 'Death to dictator' and against the Revolutionary Guards, Fars news agency said, a rare move for a country where media usually refer to demonstrators as 'rioters' and refrain from publishing such slogans.

A vigil for the crash victims on Saturday night turned into an angry protest and police temporarily arrested the British ambassador for being there.

Rob Macaire was called in to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain his 'illegal and inappropriate presence' at the protests.

The diplomat said he been attending a vigil for the victims of Flight PS752, when protests broke out and he left.

Protesters at the vigil shouted 'death to liars' and demanded the resignation and prosecution of those responsible, Fars news agency reported, saying that police 'dispersed' them.

Fars also reported that police had 'shot tear gas in some areas.'

The UK government said the ambassador's arrest was a 'flagrant violation of international law' and said Iran was marching towards 'pariah status'.

Today the UK said it would summon the Iranian ambassador in London to convey its 'strong objections' about the 'unacceptable' breach of protocol, while Iran released footage of him at the vigil.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons that Britain was keeping the security of its Tehran embassy under review amid the protests.

Downing Street also suggested that families of Flight 752 victims could claim compensation from the Iranian government.

Meanwhile Germany demanded today that Iranians be allowed to 'protest peacefully and freely' and express their 'grief and also their anger'.

Berlin foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr described reports of a crackdown on demonstrators as 'very worrying'.

Ukraine says the pilots were killed immediately when the Iranian missile struck the plane just below the cockpit (the wreckage is pictured at the crash site near Tehran)

A crater left by an Iranian air strike on the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq is seen today on a visit by soldiers and journalists

US soldiers and journalists inspect the rubble at the site of the Iranian missile attack at the height of last week's tensions

A bulldozer picks up rubble and debris at Ain al-Asad air base today, five days after the Iranian missile attack which Tehran said was revenge for the drone strike that killed Soleimani on January 3

Rubble and debris are seen in a pile at the Ain al-Asad base in Iraq today after the Iranian missile strikes damaged facilities at the base which houses US forces and troops from the US-led coalition against ISIS

The death of Qassem Soleimani had initially united Iranians in mourning last week, but Iran's admission that it shot down the airliner - having initially pretended otherwise - has sparked a resurgence of anti-government anger.

All 176 passengers and crew on board the Ukraine International Airlines jet were killed when it came down just outside Tehran on Wednesday morning.

Tehran initially denied shooting down the plane, claiming it had suffered a technical fault - fuelling further anger once the Revolutionary Guards admitted they had brought down the plane in error.

Ukrainian security chief Oleksiy Danilov told the BBC that the missile had hit the plane underneath the cockpit, killing the pilots instantly.

Two state TV hosts have resigned in protest at the Iranian military's alleged lies on the cause of the plane crash.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei denied a 'cover-up' today despite the days of denials in which Rabiei himself had dismissed claims of a shoot-down as 'psychological warfare'.

Rabiei said all details provided by officials prior to Saturday's admission had been based on the information available to them at the time.

'Some officials were even accused of lying and a cover-up but, in all honesty, that was not the case,' he declared.

'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.'

Tehran admitted Saturday that it accidentally downed the Ukraine International Airlines plane, killing all 176 people on board on Wednesday (pictured: wreckage at the crash site)

Iranians gather to take part in an anti-government protest around Azadi square in Tehran on Sunday night

In a separate protest, Iranian demonstrators set alight a Union Jack in front of the British embassy in Tehran yesterday

Footage released by police in Iran today appeared to show Rob Macaire, pictured left, shortly before he was arrested on Saturday

Singer Alireza Assar posted an Instagram video last night in which he voiced his 'sympathy with the people of his country' after the crash and announced he was pulling out of a concert.

Iran's official news agency IRNA claims he had cancelled the event 'in the memory of the victims of recent tragic events in Iran'.

But Assar's video also voiced support for the demonstrators who staged protests in Iran last November, according to BBC Persian.

The November protests erupted in a row over gas prices and more than 300 people were feared killed after the Revolutionary Guard allegedly fired on protesters.

Kimia Alizadeh, who won a bronze medal for Iran at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, announced on Saturday she had left the country for good.

Dutch broadcaster NOS reported today that Alizadeh has been training in Eindhoven since she left Iran several weeks ago.

Criticising Iran's political system for 'hypocrisy', 'lying', 'injustice' and 'flattery', she said she wanted nothing more than 'taekwondo, security and a happy and healthy life'.

Bulldozers were operating at the crash site before Ukrainian investigators even arrived - sparking fears of an Iranian cover-up

Wreckage of the plane which investigators in Iran initially claimed was trying to turn back to the airport when it crashed as the result of a mechanical fault, killing 176 people

'I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran with whom they have been playing for years,' the 21-year-old wrote.

'I wore whatever they told me to wear,' she said, referring to the Islamic veil, which is compulsory for all women in public in Iran.

'I repeated everything they told me to say,' she wrote.

She continued: 'None of us matter to them.'

Security was stepped up in Tehran yesterday as Donald Trump warned Iran against harming demonstrators.

'To the leaders of Iran - DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,' Trump tweeted Sunday in his occasional all-capitals style.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, however, said Trump was still willing to 'sit down and discuss without precondition a new way forward' with Iran.

Tehran said it favoured an easing of tensions after the crisis which began with Soleimani's death in a US air strike on January 3.

In a meeting between Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and the visiting emir of Qatar, both sides agreed de-escalation is the 'only solution' to the regional crisis.

Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the region but also enjoys strong ties with Iran, with which it shares the world's largest gas field.

'We agreed... that the only solution to these crises is de-escalation from everyone and dialogue,' Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said on what was believed to be his first official visit to Iran.

For his part, Rouhani said: 'We've decided to have more consultations and cooperation for the security of the entire region.'

The death of Qassem Soleimani (pictured) had initially united Iranians in mourning last week, but Iran's admission that it shot down the airliner has sparked a resurgence of anti-government anger

A makeshift memorial to Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani has sprung up near Baghdad airport (pictured), where the general was killed in a US drone strike seven days ago

In a briefing to parliament, Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said the missiles it fired last Wednesday on Iraqi bases hosting US troops were not aimed at killing American personnel.

The US said no American personnel were harmed in the attacks.

US troops were today clearing out rubble from the Ain al-Asad base where the missile barrage caused huge craters and destroyed military trailers.

Iraq's parliament last week voted to expel foreign forces from the country, including some 5,200 American troops, who have helped local soldiers beat back jihadists since 2014.

Donald Trump has threatened Iraq with 'sanctions like they've never seen before' if Baghdad follows through with the plan.

Trump declared victory in the stand-off after no US troops were harmed in the missile barage, saying that Iran 'appears to be standing down'.

The US president had earlier threatened to target Iranian cultural heritage if Tehran struck against US targets, prompting claims he was preparing to commit a war crime.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said after the strikes Iran had 'concluded' its response to Soleimani's death, although Tehran has sent mixed signals on whether there is more to come.