Iran has admitted its military made an “unforgivable mistake” in unintentionally shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner and killing all 176 people onboard, after days of rejecting western intelligence reports that pointed to Tehran being responsible. Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, wrote on Saturday: “The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake. Zelenskiy said: “Even before the termination of the International Commission, Iran has pleaded guilty to crashing the Ukrainian plane. Iran admits shooting down Ukrainian airliner 'unintentionally' – state TV Read moreThe vast majority of the crash victims were Iranians or Iranian-Canadians, however, and it came just weeks after authorities quashed nationwide protests ignited by a hike in fuel prices. Western security officials began briefing on Thursday afternoon that intelligence suggested the plane had been accidentally shot down by two surface-to-air missiles fired by the Iranian military.

Source: The Guardian January 11, 2020 04:00 UTC