Iran Admits it Unintentionally Shot Down Ukrainian Passenger Jet By Zachary Evans
Iran Admits It Unintentionally Shot Down Ukrainian Passenger Jet
Iran admitted on Friday that its military had accidentally shot down a civilian passenger jet on Tuesday that belonged to Ukraine International Airlines and that took off from Tehran several hours after Iran attacked U.S. positions in Iraq.
All 176 passengers and crew were killed in the crash, most of them Iranian or Canadian citizens.
On Tuesday Iran launched 15 ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq that housed U.S. military personnel, in response to the U.S. killing of senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani on January 2.
The Iranian military released a statement saying the Ukraine flight “took the flying posture and altitude of an enemy target,” and flew in the direction of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. “Under these circumstances, because of human error,” the statement continued, the aircraft “came under fire.”
Comments are closed.
