Iran admits of shooting down Ukrainian Airlines flight 752, blaming it human error

Iran has admitted on Saturday that it shot down Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 which crashed near Tehran on Wednesday, killing176 people on board.

A statement from Iran’s military said it shot down the plane by accident after it got close to a military base, and it was mistaken for a threat.

“In such a condition, because of human error and in an unintentional way, the flight was hit,” the Iranian statement said.

At first, Iran had blamed the plane crash on a mechanical fault but later clarified the stance in a new statement.

Irani foreign minister has blamed the shooting on “human error,” brought about by an atmosphere of a crisis caused by the sudden escalation of Iran’s conflict with the US.

In a tweet, Javad Zarif describing  the cause of the plane crash, wrote,  “human error at a time of crisis caused by US adventurism.”

Irani President in a tweet also shared a statement, saying that the shooting down of plane a “great tragedy” and am “unforgivable mistake.” He said that those involved would be prosecuted by the Iranian authorities.

Rouhani wrote, “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 & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake. #PS752″.

The shoot-down came hours after Iran had launched a missile attack on US troops stationed in Iraq, while the military being on high alert.

Iran made the admission two days after the US, Canadian, and British governments blamed the plane crash on an Iranian missile, citing their intelligence agencies reports.