Iran admits Ukrainian jet was ‘unintentionally’ shot down

Iran has admitted “unintentionally” shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board.

An investigation found that missiles fired due to human error”, President Hassan Rouhani said. He described the crash as an “unforgivable mistake”.

Update: Ukraine airline chief says he never believed airline caused Iran crash

The military said the jet turned towards a sensitive site belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and was then mistaken for a hostile aircraft.

Iran had previously rejected suggestions that it was to blame.

The downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 on Wednesday came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.

The strikes were a response to the killing of senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad on 3 January.

On Saturday morning, an Iranian military statement read on state TV announced that it had struck flight PS752 with a missile by mistake.

It said the plane had turned towards a “sensitive military centre” of the Revolutionary Guards, a force set up to defend the country’s Islamic system. The statement said it had the “flying posture and altitude of an enemy target”.

Because of heightened tensions with the US, Iran’s military “was at its highest level of readiness”, the statement added. “In such a condition, because of human error and in an unintentional way, the flight was hit.”