Iran’s Zarif says Ukrainian plane crash caused by human error and ‘US adventurism’

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 06 Jan 2023

TEHRAN: 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 an internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at the 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.” Iran had announced that its military “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian airplane, killing all 176 people on board, according to state TV.

Iran in its statement termed the downing of the plane as “human error”. A Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff a few hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces in Iraq.