Iran has admitted its forces downed a Ukrainian International Airlines aircraft on Wednesday, killing all 176 on board. “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,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a tweet released Saturday morning local time. “The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake. My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences,” Rouhani added.
Several countries had already publicly announced that the Boeing 737-800 had been downed by two Russian-made missiles fired by Iranian forces but Iran had refused to admit responsibility until Friday. But Iran said the U.S. shoulders part of the blame because of its earlier drone attack on the country’s military commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that “human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.” The airliner took off from Tehran just after 6 a.m. on Wednesday about four hours after Iran shot 22 missiles at an American air base in Iraq. Iranian officials said the airliner was mistaken for a military aircraft threatening a sensitive Revolutionary Guards installation. Most of those on board were heading for connecting flights to Canada and several European countries.
How can anyone believe anything that ever comes out of Iran, ever? I will give them this, they are the most consistent liars I have ever heard. The consistency is mind boggling.
Sigh.
But elements of the leftist media continue blaming this on a pre-emptive and retaliatory strike by the U.S. on Soleimanai — a known organizer of international terrorism that was key and critical to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
We all saw the video of Iran’s missile taking out the Ukrainian jetliner. I’m sorry, but there’s no way on God’s green earth that Iran — “the gang that can’t shoot straight” — and with known “sleeper cells” across the US should have access to nuclear weapons. A downed aircraft here … a sunken sea vessel there … can all be conveniently blamed on the US by a wretched leftist media.
Peace means Iran taking the anti-nuclear stance of Japan post WW-2. Any other position is untenable.
Ooops, I forgot. This is an aviation blog. Sorry.
““human error… caused by US adventurism led to disaster.”
He sounds like a 3 year old; only admit to doing something wrong if you can blame your sister.
Here is a thought: maybe attacking foreign embassies leads to losing a few people on your own side.
The only aspect of this disaster that is a surprise, is Iran’s admission of culpability. Truly stunning.
Perhaps this is a positive development.
Negative. This is Iran you’re talking about. Don’t get sucked in. They’re born liars and deceivers. They can never be trusted or believed…, never.
I understand the reaction, but isn’t the best approach to reward good behavior while being quietly skeptical? If they keep faking it, they will eventually find that better behavior is it’s own reward, while there is no penalty for us to take the high road so long as we maintain vigilance which is needed either way.
This isn’t so much an admission of guilt as a round about way to blame the U.S. for the whole incident. In other words, the bad Americans made us do it. Conveniently omitted was the fact that the U.S. attack that killed their terrorist general took place near the Bagdad airport in Iraq, not Iran. No American drone or piloted aircraft ever came near to entering Iranian airspace. It’s kind of hard to justify shooting at a “suspected enemy aircraft threatening a sensitive Revolutionary Guard facility”, when we never came near their airspace in the beginning. The sad irony is that almost all the people killed were either Iranian citizens, or of Iranian descent, as in the case of the 60+ Canadians who died.
60+ Canadians on vacation in Iran?
Immigrants. Canada made the mistake of allowing many people to get Dual citizenship which they then use as insurance to get them out of the war zones they come from in emergencies. It costs Canada big bucks and I’m not sure they found a solution yet.
Then they are not “Canadians”; they are Iranians with dual citizenship.
Canada does not agree.
Immigrants. One of the things that makes Canada happier and stronger is that we welcome people from all over the world. As far as I know, all of the 60+ Canadians who died were of Iranian extraction, and most were likely dual citizens of Canada and Iran. This was the holidays. Many people were taking their time off to visit relatives. There are no direct flights between Canada and Iran, so people have to fly via third countries. Apparently, this Ukranian airline was one of the cheaper ways to go.
I know three different people, in three different places in Canada, who know people killed in this tragedy. They were professors, grad students, dentists, newlyweds, children. The grief is national.
I hear Iran does not recognise dual citizenship, so Iranian accounts may refer to these Iranian-Canadians as Iranians. This may result in conflicting counts of “Iranians” vs “Canadians” killed. The loss is still ours as well.
Apparently there were Iranian students on board as well. Returning to Canada for classes.
I also hear that Canada does not have diplomatic ties to Iran, so how they get permission to come & go to Iran is sorta fuzzy.