The President of Iran said today that the country “deeply regretted” having shot down a Ukrainian civilian plane, stressing that it was “a great tragedy and an unforgivable mistake”.
“The internal investigation by the military concluded that sadly missile missiles caused the crash of the Ukrainian plane and the death of 176 innocent people,” admitted Hassan Rohani, in a message posted on Twitter.
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 & continue this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake. # PS752
– Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 11, 2020
“Investigations continue to identify and bring to justice” those responsible, he added.
The Iranian Foreign Minister also made “apologies” for the catastrophe of the Ukrainian Airlines Boeing 737, after the military also acknowledged that the plane was shot down in error.
“Sad day,” wrote Mohammmad Javad Zarif on Twitter. “A human error in times of crisis caused by American adventurism led to disaster,” he added.
“Our deep regret, apology and condolences to our people, the families of the victims and the other nations affected” by the drama, said the minister.
Iran’s military chief of staff has assured the people of Iran that “the person responsible” for the tragedy of the Ukrainian Boeing shot down Thursday outside Tehran will be immediately brought to military justice.
“We guarantee that by making fundamental reforms to operational processes at the military level, we will make it impossible to repeat such errors,” he added in a statement.
The aircraft, bound for Kiev, carried 167 passengers and nine crew members of various nationalities, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, 3 Germans and 3 Britons.
“Investigations continue to identify and bring to justice” those responsible, he added.
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