Now its time for the yanks to shame the Iranians on the international stage. Isolate them economically n politically
Iran blames human error for 'unintentionally' shooting down Ukrainian plane
Updated about 3 hours ago
Iran's supreme leader has offered condolences and called for an investigation after his country's armed forces acknowledged that they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 aboard.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who until Saturday kept silent about the crash — has since said the information should be made public and called on the armed forces to "pursue probable shortcomings and guilt in the painful incident".
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the country expects a full investigation, a full admission of guilt and compensation after Iran announced its military "unintentionally" shot down the jetliner on Saturday.
"Iran has pleaded guilty to crashing the Ukrainian plane. But we insist on a full admission of guilt," Mr Zelenskiy said.
"We expect from Iran assurances of their readiness for a full and open investigation, bringing those responsible to justice, the return of the bodies of the dead, the payment of compensation, official apologies through diplomatic channels.
"Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations."
Iran's president Hassan Rouhani tweeted the country "deeply regrets this disastrous mistake," promising that those behind the incident would be prosecuted.
Earlier on Saturday (AEDT), Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted that "human error" was to blame for the downing of the passenger jet, after initially denying Iran brought down the aircraft in the tense aftermath of missile strikes on US targets in Iraq.
A statement read on state television said the airliner had flown close to a sensitive military site and parties responsible for shooting down the jet would be held accountable.
The statement said the plane was mistaken for a "hostile target" after it turned toward a "sensitive military centre" of the Revolutionary Guard.
The military was at its "highest level of readiness," it said, amid the heightened tensions with the US.
"In such a condition, because of human error and in a unintentional way, the flight was hit," the statement said.
It apologised for the disaster and said it would upgrade its systems to prevent such "mistakes" in the future.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Video 0:19
Footage appears to show a mid-air explosion close to the flight's last transponder position.
ABC News
Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft.
PHOTO Memorials for those killed in the plane crash have been held across Canada. AP: ROB GURDEBEKE/THE CANADIAN PRESS
But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, said
they believed Iran shot down the aircraft.
The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 57 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.
The Canadian Government earlier lowered the nation's death toll from 63.
"This is the right step for the Iranian Government to admit responsibility, and it gives people a step toward closure with this admission," said Payman Parseyan, a prominent Iranian-Canadian in western Canada who lost a number of friends in the crash.
"I think the investigation would have disclosed it whether they admitted it or not. This will give them an opportunity to save face."
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Video 0:41
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he wanted the crash "thoroughly investigated".
ABC News
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne offered her condolences to the victims and their families and said Iran's "acknowledgement and apology to all those affected was welcome".
Moving forward, she said it would be important that "a full and transparent investigation is undertaken, involving all nations who lost citizens in the tragedy".
"It is essential that all questions about how this tragedy happened are answered fully and that confidence is rebuilt in the safety of the international civilian air traffic network," she added.
Television reports on Friday indicated that debris had been cleared from the crash site, leaving the area to scavengers to pick over.
If the wreckage was indeed moved, some clues might have been lost unless the Iranians took careful steps to preserve evidence.
"Normally you would very carefully to map out a debris field," said Steve Wallace, former head of the accident-investigations office of the Federal Aviation Administration.
"If a missile struck the airplane, you would expect to find some pieces of it and residue of the explosive."
AP/Reuters