DUBAI – Iran said on Saturday it unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing 176 people on board due to human error.
Wednesday’s crash heightened international pressure on Iran after months of friction with the United States (US). Washington killed an Iranian general last week in Iraq, prompting Tehran to fire at US targets.
The US and Canada, which had 57 citizens on board, had blamed an Iranian action for bringing down the aircraft.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the armed forces investigation showed the downing of the Boeing 737-800 was the result of “human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism (that) led to disaster.”
Iran on Thursday said it would download the information from voice and flight data recorders, known as black boxes, to determine what happened.
Tehran added it could ask Russia, Canada, France, or Ukraine for help.
Ukraine had been looking at various possible causes of the crash, including an attack by a Russian-made missile, a collision, an engine explosion, or terrorism.(Reuters)
