The unlawful downing of the Ukrainian passenger airliner flight PS752 was one of the actions that significantly eroded popular ‘trust’ in the regime. The regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) carried out this ‘operation’ to give cover for a missile attack on the US facility Ain al-Assad in Iraq on January 8, 2020. The regime’s desperation and fear about the ramifications of the crime were reflected in state television’s depiction of the occurrence.