Finally, Iran Admits Shooting down Ukrainian Airline

By Uche Mbah

Iranian Authorities Friday admitted shooting down the Ukrainian airline that crashed minutes after takeoff from a Tehran Airport, thereby ending the war of words between America and the Gulf nation on their culpability.

A Ukrainian Airline flight had crashed after takeoff in an Iranian Airport hours after Iran bombed two US military bases in Iraq as retaliation to the killing of the Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani. There was no US citizen in the aircraft that was predominantly Iranians and Canadians. The Canadian Prime minister Justin Tradeau said the Aircraft was shot down by Iran, citing various intelligence sources. The US had stood by their belief on the Iranian culpability. Iran had, however, denied it, saying that those peddling the tale are doing so without proof. “What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s civil aviation authority, told reporters Friday.

But in a statement Saturday morning, Iran says they “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, blaming “human error” for the incident, saying that the Iranian military mistook Flight 752 for a “hostile target” because, according to their military, the flight flew close a “sensitive military site”.

They defended their action on their combat readiness in the mist of crisis, and, “In such a condition, because of human error and in a unintentional way, the flight was hit.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted in social media that “human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to the disaster”.

“Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims and to other affected nations”, he said.

In a volt face from their initial position, the Iranian Authorities now agree that representatives of Boeing, the Manufacturers of the Aircraft, will now be part of the accident investigation team.