OTTAWA — Iran’s president has finally acknowledged what Canada, Britain and the United States have strongly suspected for days — that it was indeed an Iranian missile that downed a Ukrainian jetliner on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” Hassan Rouhani said late Friday in a post on Twitter.
“My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences.”
Rouhani said investigations continue to “identify and prosecute this great tragedy and unforgivable mistake.”
Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister also issued a tweet that said “A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.”
There were 57 Canadian citizens aboard the doomed airliner.
In statement posted on Twitter overnight by Justin Trudeau’s communications director, Cameron Ahmad, the prime minister said “Tonight, Iran acknowledged that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by its own armed forces. Our focus remains closure, accountability, transparency and justice for the families and loved ones of the victims.
“This is a national tragedy, and all Canadians are mourning together,” the statement added. “We will continue working with our partners around the world to ensure a complete and thorough investigation, and the Canadian government expects full co-operation from Iranian authorities.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a statement saying the crash investigation should continue and the “perpetrators” should be brought to justice. He also said Iran should compensate victims’ families.
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.”
—With files from The Associated Press
The Canadian Press
Praying for all the families that lost loved ones because of this awful tragedy.
Glad they admitted what they have done everyone knew they had shot it down .
God help these poor families. 🙏🙏🙏🇨🇦
The US accidently shot down an Iranian jetliner in the gulf years ago killing all 298 on board. Accidents do happen.
Hurry up trudea you were already making excuses for them! Send them some money
Unf@*king believable!!
For one, why is a passenger jet flying over hostile territory?
And two, who the hell mistakes a passenger jet with a fighter jet?
I want to know what Trujoke is going to si about it!?
Chris
The Prime Minister has already made a statement.
https://youtu.be/PILYyV3uvHs
what is your recommendation then? Send in the troops? If your willing to risk someone elses life step to the front of the line.
Otherwise leave your political name calling far away from anything that has to do with this tragedy.
We are at an age where our troops can safely sit behind computer screens. Shooting down a civilian airliner is an act of global terrorism. We can not let this go unpunished.
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