Iran's striking confession comes after blaming US of 'illogical rumours'

The Ukrainian aircraft with 176 people aboard crashed on January 8 just after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport. Iran which earlier vehemently denied claims that they mistakenly shot down the jet and accused the United States of 'spreading lies' about intelligence suggesting they did, in a recent turn of events acknowledged that it 'unintentionally' shot down the Ukrainian jetliner. On January 11, the Iranian government released a statement that read, “While the plane was turning around, it went towards a sensitive military centre of IRGC and it was at an altitude and in the shape of a hostile aircraft, in which the aircraft was inadvertently hit based on a human error”. 

While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump blamed Iran for bringing down the plane by an Iranian missile, Iran refused the claims and called the reports, 'psychological warfare' against Tehran. They had also called for on US and Canada to share any information they have on the crash. Ali Abedzadeh, head of country's Civil Aviation Organization also called the claims 'illogical rumours' and further said that it is scientifically impossible that a missile could hit the Ukrainian plane. 

READ: Full Statement: Iran Says It 'unintentionally' Shot Down Ukraine Jet Amid Tensions With US

After Trudeau had said that the preliminary review of evidence indicated that the Boeing 737-800 was hit by a surface-to-air missile, Iran had also asked Canada to share the intelligence inputs, further inviting Boeing to take part in the enquiry. Abedzadeh further also said that the black box of the jetliner was damaged. 

Iran's admission

The crash caused a global outcry and several theories were floated behind the cause of the crash and Iran's government earlier had repeatedly stated that their missile did not down the Ukrainian jetliner. However, in the latest development, Iran on January 11 made a huge admission that the military 'unintentionally' shot down the Ukrainian jetliner because of a 'human error'. Iran's Foreign Minister Javed Zarif also took to his Twitter and confirmed that preliminary conclusions of the internal investigation by Iran's Armed Forces. 

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President of Iran Hassan Rouhani also offered his sincere condolences to families of the kin after Iran confirmed the Armed Forces' statement. In his post, Rouhani apprised that investigations are underway to prosecute the 'unforgivable mistake' and further extended his thoughts and prayers to all the mourning families. 

READ: Iran Admits To 'unintentionally' Shooting Down Ukrainian Jetliner

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