Ukrainian Plane Crash: Iran Apologizes For Shooting Plane Down

Iran has said that it unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian airliner that crashed this week killing 176 people,
calling it an “unforgivable mistake” on Saturday, 11th January.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane came down on Wednesday shortly after Iran launched missiles at American forces bases in Iraq in response to the killing of a top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone strike.

Here's what the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, tweeted;

"The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake. 'Armed Forces' internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people.

"Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake."

Iran’s civil aviation chief denied claims that the plane had been shot down some days before. But due to the international pressure mounted on Tehran to conduct a credible investigation after several Western governments blamed a missile strike, Iran’s official IRNA news agency published a statement from the military saying the Boeing 737 was mistaken for a “hostile plane” at a time when enemy threats were at the highest level.

The disaster came as tensions soared in the region after the Soleimani killing, and fears grew of an all-out war between the United States and Iran.

READ ALSO: WW3 Tensions Increase As Iran Places $80m Bounty For Trump's Assassination

Washington has said the Soleimani strike was carried out to prevent “imminent”, large-scale attacks on US embassies. Iran had vowed “severe revenge” for Soleimani before launching missiles at the bases in Iraq.

Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister, tweeted;
“Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”

Iran has invited the United States, Ukraine, Canada and others to join the crash investigation. The majority of passengers on UIA Flight PS752 which had just taken off from Tehran were Iranian-Canadian dual nationals but also included Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes.

After the crash, many airlines from around the world cancelled flights to and Iran in the wake of the crash, or rerouted flights away from Iranian airspace.

It was Iran’s worst civil aviation disaster since the US military shot down an Iran Air plane over the Gulf by mistake in July 1988, killing all 290 people on board.