Iran has admitted that its military unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran this week, killing all 176 on board, CNN writes with reference to Iran’s state media.
According to the general staff of Iran's armed forces, the Wednesday crash was due to human error. “Iran targeted the passenger plane unintentionally.”
“A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted. “Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims and to other affected nations.”
All the people on board the Boeing 737-800 were killed when the Kiev-bound plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini Airport. The victims include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals.
Fragments of the plane had been taken to a hangar off-site to “reconstruct” it for the investigation, said Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority. The victims’ remains have been sent to a forensic lab for DNA testing.
The crash came just hours after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi military bases housing US troops in retaliation for a drone strike at Baghdad airport that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who was one of Iran’s most powerful and influential military leaders.
Hours after the missile operation in Iraq, US military flights around Iranian borders increased and Iranian military officials reported seeing aerial targets coming toward Iran’ss strategic centers, according to a statement released by Iranian armed forces headquarters.
Defense centers around Iran reported seeing increased radar activity which caused a heightened sensitivity in the aerial defense centers of the country, the statement reads.
The Ukrainian flight took off from Imam Khomeini Airport and came close to a sensitive Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military center at an altitude and flight condition that resembled hostile targeting, which led to it getting unintentionally hit, it added.
The Iranian government, which under international protocol has control of the investigation, had earlier said it would not work with the US or Boeing in the probe, but on Friday reversed its position.
If Iranian authorities are unable to reconstruct and analyze the information from the fight data recorders, they said they would seek help from international partners Russia, France, Canada or Ukraine.
Ukrainian investigators were given access to the black boxes on Friday, according to Ukraine's foreign minister, but had yet to start examining the information, which includes recordings of communications between the pilot and Tehran flight control.
The US, Britain, Canada, Sweden and the European Commission have called for an independent and credible investigation.
