Iran officially admitted on Saturday (January 11) that it had accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 which crashed on January 8 shortly after takeoff from Tehran, causing the death of 176 people.
While the situation has been extremely tense between Iran and the United States since the latter assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, Ukrainian Airlines flight PS742 crashed at night on January 8 at west of Tehran, two minutes after takeoff.
According to a staff statement, the plane appeared to be approaching a "Sensitive military center" of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, and was taken for a "Hostile target". Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the Guardian aerospace branch and who endorsed the "Total responsibility" of the drama, explained that the operator responsible for firing the missile had fired without being able to obtain confirmation of a firing order because of a "Jamming" telecommunications. The soldier flew for a "Cruise missile", he added he had "10 seconds to decide" But "Made the wrong decision". According to the staff, " the guilty " of this error had to be translated " at once " in justice.
General Hajizadeh clarified that the missile, "Short range", had exploded "Next to the plane", which explains why it could continue to fly after catching fire. A video released Thursday by the American daily The New York Times, shows when the missile exploded, as well as the fall of the aircraft.
The victims are mainly Iranians (82 dead) and Canadians (57 dead), but also include Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and British.
How will the investigation take place?
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for "Transparency" so that a "Full and thorough investigation" be conducted and establish responsibilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the punishment of the culprits and the payment of compensation.
The debris from the aircraft was moved to a hangar for examination. Iran has invited Boeing, the American aircraft manufacturer, to participate in the investigation, along with the Americans, Canadians, French and Swedes.
Iran has said it wants to download the contents of the device’s black boxes itself – a process that could take between four and eight weeks – but some 50 Ukrainian experts arrived in Tehran on Saturday to participate in the investigation and at their decryption. “Our specialists in Iran had access to all the photos, videos and other information necessary to analyze the processes under way in Tehran. On the basis of the information collected, (…) we have enough data to understand that the investigation will be prompt and objective "said the Ukrainian Presidency.
French experts will also participate in decoding the black boxes, the Ukrainian President and Emmanuel Macron agreed on Saturday in a telephone interview. The French president also announced to Volodymyr Zelensky that France had started the official procedure necessary for the opening of an international investigation.
How has the international community responded?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel both greeted on Saturday "An important step" with Iranian confessions. The first called "A complete, transparent and independent international investigation and the repatriation of those who died" while the second said she wanted an investigation "Exhaustive" and to discuss the consequences ".
A senior Russian official – whose country is an ally of Iran – said that if the unintentional side of the shooting was confirmed, Tehran should "Learn lessons" of this tragedy.
The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, estimated "Important to seize this moment to give space to discussions and negotiations" on the Iranian nuclear issue. "The lessons that we must learn from this dramatic sequence that we have experienced for several days now, since the end of 2019, is that we must stop this escalation. "
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