Today, Iran is acknowledging they unintentionally shot down the plane.I'm glad they are taking responsibility for this error. It's the right thing to do.Obviously, there are many unanswered questions. A few I'm asking..Why was this plane in flight considering all that had occurred? Why did the plane turn around, as has been reported? Why deviate from planned course? And who was jamming communications? Because communications being jammed is very possible, very likely, given the circumstancesLink
The Iranian missile operator who shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet opened fire independently because of communications "jamming", a Revolutionary Guards commander said on Saturday.The operator had mistaken the Boeing 737 for a "cruise missile" and only had ten seconds to decide whether or not to open fire, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Guards' aerospace commander, said in televised remarks.The plane was shot down on Wednesday, hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on two military bases housing US troops in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike in Baghdad. Hajizadeh, the head of the guard's aerospace division, said his unit accepts “full responsibility” for the shootdown. In an address broadcast by state TV, he said that when he learned about the downing of the plane, “I wished I was dead.”He said guard forces ringing the capital had beefed up their air defences and were at the “highest level of readiness", fearing that the US would retaliate. He said an officer made the “bad decision” to open fire on the plane after mistaking it for a cruise missile."He had 10 seconds to decide. He could have decided to strike or not to strike and under such circumstances he took the wrong decision.""It was a short-range missile that exploded next to the plane," he added.Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed his “deep sympathy” to the families of the victims and called on the armed forces to "pursue probable shortcomings and guilt in the painful incident.”Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a statement saying the crash investigation should continue and the “perpetrators” should be brought to justice. He said Iran should compensate victims' families, and he requested “official apologies through diplomatic channels.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with the country mourning the loss of many of its nationals, said closure and accountability were needed after Iran's announcement. The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.
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