The general staff of the Iranian armed forces acknowledged on Saturday 11 January that one ” human error “ was behind the Ukrainian Airlines Boeing 737 disaster.
The aircraft, in which 176 people were killed, was mistaken for “Hostile plane” and was ” touch “ when enemy threats were at the highest level, said a statement issued by the official agency Irna. There were no survivors.
The plane that crashed on Wednesday a few minutes after taking off from Tehran airport flew over an area near a sensitive military site belonging to the Revolutionary Guards.
In a statement broadcast on public television, the Iranian military said the culprits will be brought before a military court and offers its condolences to the families of the victims, most of whom are Iranians and Canadians of Iranian origin.
This accident is the result of human error and“Adventurism of the United States”said the Iranian foreign minister after the army statement was issued.
“Preliminary conclusions of an internal investigation of the armed forces: a human error in a period of crisis caused by the adventurism of the United States led to disaster”, wrote Mohammad Javad Zarif on Twitter, referring to a “Sad day”.
Growing tensions between Tehran and Washington
The Ukraine Airlines plane crash increased international pressure on Iran amid growing tensions between Tehran and Washington.
For several days, many doubts had been raised about the accidental nature of the disaster. In the wake of Newsweek, the American media disseminated anonymous quotes from intelligence officials, while photos of exterior impacts of shrapnel on the cabin, or remains of a Tor missile near the crash, were published on social media. Then a first confirmation fell, through Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, including 57 nationals – according to a slightly revised downward balance sheet -, many binational, died in the crash.
“We have information from multiple sources, including our allies and our own services,” showing that the plane was shot down “By an Iranian surface-to-air missile”said Trudeau at a press conference before adding that the act may not have been intentional.
In Tehran, we remained on the defensive after the declarations of the Canadian Prime Minister. Iran’s foreign ministry on Thursday denounced “Questionable staging” and called on Ottawa to share its information with the Iranian commission of inquiry into the incident. “Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, such rumors are illogical”said Ali Abedzadeh, head of the Iranian civil aviation organization, quoted by the agency ISNA.
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