In a massive and rapid U-turn, the Iranian authorities have now confirmed that its country’s forces mistakenly shot down a Ukraine International Airlines’ Boeing 737-800, flight 752, last Wednesday. The incident occurred shortly after take-off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, Tehran, when the plane was en route to Kyiv, Ukraine. All 176 passengers and crew on board perished when the plane crashed just outside Tehran.
Having initially and vehemently denied any possibility of the aircraft having been hit by a ground-to-air missile, Iran has now admitted to the incident being a “drastic mistake” which occurred during a period of heightened tensions following the drone strike by U.S. Forces which killed the al-Quds force leader, Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad on January 3, and Iran’s retaliatory missile strike on U.S. troop positions a few hours prior to the downing of the jet.
The plane was mistaken for a hostile target after it turned towards a sensitive military center of the Revolutionary Guards, according to a military statement on the official IRNA news agency. “The military was at its highest level of readiness” amid the heightened tensions with the US, it said, adding: “In such a condition, because of human error and in an unintentional way, the flight was hit.”
Iran has invited investigators from Canada, Ukraine and from Boeing to visit the crash site, while also confirming it would welcome representatives of other countries whose citizens were killed in the crash. Of the 167 passengers on board, 82 were Iranian, at least 57 were Canadian, 11 were Ukrainian and three were British.
