Iran says military shot down plane in error
After inititally denying it, Iran on Saturday (January 11) admitted to ''unintentionally'' shooting down a Ukrainian aircraft, killing all 176 people on board.
In a statement released on state TV, Iran said the plane was hit ''due to human error'' when it flew near to a sensitive Revolutionary Guards base at an altitude and shape of a hostile target.
On Twitter, the Iranian foreign minister expressed his condolences to those involved, but also put some of the blame on the U.S.
Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday's (January 8) incident was the result of "human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism (that) led to disaster.''
Tensions between Iran and the U.S. escalated on January 3rd, when a U.S. drone strike killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Iran retaliated by firing missiles at U.S. military targets in Iraq on Wednesday.
And then came the downing of the Ukrainian plane just hours after.
Canada, which had 57 citizens on board, believed an Iranian missile had brought the aircraft down and had been putting pressure on Iran to come clean.
Responding to Iran's U-turn, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded an official apology and full cooperation.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran ''deeply regrets the disastrous mistake'' and promised that those behind the incident would be prosecuted.
