plane hit by two missiles, investigation report says

Debris from the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane, which crashed on January 8 near Tehran. Social Media / via REUTERS

Two missiles were fired at the Boeing 737 of Ukraine International Airlines shot down on January 8 by the Iranian armed forces, according to a preliminary investigation report by the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) released on Tuesday January 21. The crash left 176 dead.

"The effect of these (missiles) on the accident and the analysis of this action are under investigation"adds the document, confirming a hypothesis raised by The New York Times January 15th. The American daily had then checked and published images of video surveillance which show two luminous objects and two explosions in the sky shortly before the crash.

Peak of tensions

The air disaster occurred at the height of tensions between Tehran and Washington after the death of General Ghassem Soleimani, killed by an American drone fire in Baghdad, Iraq. In retaliation, Iran launched two missiles on January 8 against two military bases used by the US military in Iraq, with no casualties. A few hours later, the Ukrainian plane was shot down " by mistake " while Iranian air defense was on high alert "War".

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The announcement of the crash sparked popular anger against the Iranian regime, accused of having denied responsibility before admitting a " human error ". "People want to make sure the authorities treat them with sincerity, integrity and trust", President Hassan Rohani said on Wednesday, asking " armed forces " of " to apologise " and D'"Explain to the people what happened" so that people understand "That they didn't want to hide anything". In a speech, he called for"National unity" and to a radical change in the mode of government of his country.

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