Ukrainian aircraft was shot down in Iran due to human error: Iran military statement

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Ukrainian aircraft which crashed earlier this week in Iran had flown close to a sensitive military site belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guards and was shot down unintentionally due to human error, the Iranian military said in a statement read on state TV on Saturday. The responsible parties would be referred to a judicial department within the military and held accountable, the statement said. All 176 people on board were killed in the crash. The Iranian military statement expressed condolences to the families of the victims. The United States and Canada had said that the plane was shot down, a claim Iran had initially denied. The Ukrainian plane crash earlier this week was caused by human error and “U.S. adventurism”, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet on Saturday. “A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism led to disaster,” Zarif wrote on Twitter. “Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”