Iran announced in a statement on Saturday (local time) that its military "unintentionally" shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed on Wednesday, killing all passengers aboard, according to multiple reports.
What they're saying, per the Iranian military's statement: The Boeing 737 jetliner operated by Ukrainian International Airlines “took the flying posture and altitude of an enemy target” as it came close to an Iranian military base, and “under these circumstances, because of human error,” the plane “came under fire,” the New York Times writes.
- Iran's General Staff of Armed Forces said Flight 752 was shot down "unintentionally" after departing from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, per a statement cited by the Washington Post.
Context: Iran has repeatedly denied accusations that it was responsible for the crash. The head of Iran's national aviation department said at a press conference Friday, "What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane."
- American intelligence assessments indicated that Iranian missiles brought down the plane, likely by accident, amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
- The New York Times obtained a video that appears to depict an Iranian missile striking a Ukrainian airliner near Tehran's airport — where the Ukrainian Boeing 737 "stopped transmitting its signal" prior to the crash on Wednesday.
- The crash came hours after Iran fired missiles at two bases in Iraq that housed American forces in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike in Baghdad.
Go deeper... What we know: Ukrainian Boeing 737 crashes in Tehran
