TEHRAN, JAN 12 (DNA) – Iran stop Guards commander briefed parliament on Sunday, a day after the armed forces said a Ukrainian airliner was shot down in error in an admission that sparked an angry demonstration.

His closed-session testimony comes after the temporary arrest Saturday of Britain s ambassador to Tehran, Rob Macaire, shortly after he left a vigil for the air disaster victims that turned into a protest.

On the day after the rally at Tehran s Amir Kabir University, tensions appeared to be mounting again on the streets of the capital, with a heavy police presence notably around the iconic Azadi Square south of the centre.

Riot police armed with water cannon and batons were seen at Amir Kabir, Sharif and Tehran universities as well as Enqelab Square. Around 50 Basij militiamen brandishing paintball guns, potentially to mark protesters to authorities, were also seen near Amir Kabir.

The military acknowledged Saturday that the Ukraine International Airlines plane was mistakenly shot down Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard, after denying for days Western claims it was downed by a missile.

The majority of those on the Boeing 737, which slammed into a field shortly after take-off from Tehran, were Iranians and Canadians, and many were students.

World leaders welcomed Iran s admission, but Canada s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others have also called for a full and transparent investigation.

The Kiev-bound plane was shot down at a time when Iran s armed forces were on a heightened state of alert after launching a volley of missiles at US troops stationed in Iraqi military bases.

Iran had vowed to exact “severe revenge” for the January 3 US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards  foreign operations arm.=DNA

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