Iran Admits Accidentally Shooting Down Ukrainian Plane

Iranian authorities admit that the January 8 Ukrainian airplane crash that killed 176 people was due to their unintentional shootdown, an official statement revealed.

The statement, which is available on the English-language version of the country's national broadcaster PressTV, cites "human error" caused by American "adventurism" as the factor that led to the deadliest crash in the history of Ukrainian airlines and the first crash in the history of the plane's carrier – Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA).

176 people, including 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, and as well as 3 Germans and 3 U.K. citizens died in the aviation accident.

READ MORE: What We Know About the Victims of the Deadly Tehran-Kyiv Flight

Both the Iranian president and the foreign minister immediately expressed their regret and condolences following the statement.

READ MORE: Ukrainian Boeing Crashes Near Tehran Killing 176

This follows Iran's initial blasting of information anonymously shared by two U.S. officials and one Iraqi official with  Newsweek  news site. The  earlier statement  made by an Iranian government spokesperson on January 10 called the anonymous allegation that the plane was shot down by an "Iranian missile system"  a  "well-calculated psychological operation"  by the U.S. government.

/By Maria Romanenko

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