Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the former commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, was directly involved in widespread human rights violations.
He was particularly responsible for violations of the right to life and the deaths of civilians. The downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on January 8, 2020, occurred during his tenure as commander. This tragic incident resulted in the deaths of all 176 people on board.
As the commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh was responsible for the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020.
The plane was shot down only hours after the IRGC launched a missile attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which hosts U.S. forces.
Denial and Cover-up of the Truth by Amir Ali Hajizadeh
Despite the fact that the Ukrainian airliner was shot down by surface-to-air missiles from the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, officials of Iran’s regime denied the truth for three days, claiming the cause was a technical failure.
This was despite the fact that images and videos from the crash site clearly showed missile impact, and footage of the moment the missile struck the plane had also been made public.
Even one day after the incident, regime officials continued to deny a missile strike. However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a press conference and confirmed that the definite cause of the crash was a missile strike.
In addition to his role as commander of the forces that shot down the Ukrainian plane, Amir Ali Hajizadeh was also directly involved in the regime’s efforts to deny and conceal the truth.
Despite knowing the cause of the crash within hours after the incident—as he later admitted—he took no action.
While many Iranian citizens were seeking the truth, Amir Ali Hajizadeh held a press conference on January 9 to celebrate the missile strike on the Ain al-Asad base.
At this press conference, Hajizadeh made no mention of the Ukrainian passenger plane being shot down. He called the strike on the Ain al-Asad base a “victory” and spoke about the operation’s success.
Eventually, after three days of denial and once it was confirmed that the plane had been brought down by IRGC air defense missiles, the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces accepted responsibility. On the morning of January 11, 2020, the General Staff released a statement, describing the downing of the plane as the result of an “unintentional human error.”
Confession by Amir Ali Hajizadeh and Lack of Legal Accountability
Following the statement, the Iranian regime’s state-run IRINN news network aired a press conference with Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
In that broadcast, Hajizadeh accepted responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner by forces under his command.
In the pre-recorded report, Hajizadeh admitted that he had been informed of the incident within hours of the crash.
He had also informed higher-ranking commanders of the incident. According to Hajizadeh, the air defense operator had mistaken the passenger aircraft for a cruise missile and fired at it.
Despite Amir Ali Hajizadeh’s direct role as the commander of the forces responsible for shooting down the Ukrainian airliner, the judiciary of Iran’s regime never recognized him as a defendant in the legal case opened on the matter.
On the first anniversary of the downing of the Ukrainian plane in January 2021, Hajizadeh appeared in a detailed television report. In the program, without any mention of the downed aircraft, he referred to the day of the incident and the missile strike on Ain al-Asad base as “a day of God and a great victory.”
Canada: Iran Must Take Full Responsibility for Downing Ukrainian Flight
Background and Victims Associated with Amir Ali Hajizadeh
Amir Ali Hajizadeh’s record includes:
1980: Joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
2006 to October 2009: Commander of IRGC Air Defense.
October 2009 to June 13, 2025: Commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force.
He was killed on June 13, 2025, during an Israeli strike.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh was placed under U.S. sanctions on July 14, 2019. The sanctions were imposed due to his “malign role and involvement in provocative missile programs and sabotage of commercial ships in international waters.”
