Iran admits shooting down Ukrainian passenger plane

Iran says its military “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board, Iran’s state TV reports.

The statement said it had done so due to “human error” after the plane flew close to a sensitive site belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Mistaken for a “hostile target”, the jet was hit by a missile, the statement said.

Those responsible would be held accountable, it added.

Iran had previously rejected suggestions that one of its missiles brought down the plane near the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday.

But pressure mounted after the US and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believed Iran had shot down the plane with a missile, possibly accidentally.

In a tweet, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the “horrific crash” of the aircraft was an “unforgivable mistake”.

The downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 with the loss of 176 lives came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.

The Ukrainian flight, which was headed to the Canadian city of Toronto via the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, came down near Imam Khomeini Airport shortly after take-off.

The plane came down shortly after taking off from TehranUS media had speculated that the Ukrainian airliner may have been mistaken for a warplane as Iran prepared for possible US retaliation.

The Iranian air strikes were launched in retaliation to the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone attack on 3 January.

In a tweet on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested “US adventurism” was partly to blame for the downing of the Ukrainian jet.

Victims of the disaster included 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians as well as nationals from Sweden, the UK, Afghanistan and Germany.

(BBC)