Ukrainian plane shot down, the pain of relatives (Codie McLachlan / The Canadian Press via AP)

  • Tehran admits the mistake
  • The US attempted to eliminate another Tehran executive
  • Boeing crashed during attack on US bases. "It's not an engine failure." Sources: "Hit by missiles"
  • The US announces new sanctions on Iran after the attack
  • Iran, Ukrainian Boeing crashed. Trudeau: "We have evidence, shot down by Iranian missiles"
  • Iran, Ukrainian Boeing crashed. Tehran: "Certain that he was not hit by a missile"

Share

January 11, 2020In citing military sources , Iranian state television claims that Iran "unintentionally" shot down the Ukrainian airliner due to human error. The international media reported it at dawn today. Iranian Armed Forces Headquarters said that Boeing crashed four days ago shortly after taking off from Eheran's 'Imam Khomeini' airport was "mistakenly" and "inadvertently" targeted by the Iranian air defense forces mistaken for an "enemy plane". All 176 of 737 passengers and crew members of Ukraine International Airlines died as a result of the accident. Until yesterday Iran had denied having shot down the aircraft with a missile.

Apologizing and offering condolences to the families of the victims of the Ukrainian plane shot down after taking off from Tehran, the Iranian Armed Forces Headquarters states in a statement that it will implement "essential reforms in operational processes to avoid similar errors in the future" and that will legally prosecute "those who made the mistake". "On Wednesday shortly after Iran's attack on the US military bases in Iraq - explains the military release -, the Iranian air defense system was on the alert to counter any possible retaliation by the Americans, as some observations had indicated US air movements towards strategic Iranian sites ". According to the Iranian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian plane would have started flying near a military center of the Revolutionary Guards, it was therefore wrongly identified as an enemy target and on the basis of an "involuntary" human error it was targeted by the defense system air.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake" and the "investigations will continue to identify and prosecute" the authors of this "great tragedy" and "this unforgivable mistake ," says Iranian President Hassan Rohani in a post on the his Twitter account. "Those involved in the crash of the Ukrainian plane will soon be tried," says Rohani. Expressing regret and condolences on behalf of the Islamic Republic, the President of Iran stressed that legal measures had been taken against "those who made the mistake" and people would be informed of the results. Finally, Rohani called for the removal of the weaknesses of the country's defense system.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says that the "human error" behind the shooting down of the Ukrainian airliner by the armed forces of Iran occurred in the "moment of crisis caused by US adventurism ". In a post on his Twitter account, Zarif speaks of today as a "sad day" in which the "conclusions of the internal investigation of the Armed Forces" established that it was human error. "Our deep regret, our apologies and condolences to our people, the families of all the victims and other affected nations," writes the Iranian Foreign Minister.

Iran must "learn the lesson" from this tragedy, says the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian parliament Konstantin Kosachev . "If the decryption of the black boxes and the work of the investigations does not demonstrate that the Iranian army did it intentionally, the case must be closed. I hope that lessons will be learned and actions taken by all sides," said the senator cited by the Russian news agency Interfax.