HASSAN Rouhani, Iranian president on Saturday admitted that the Ukrainian flight PS752 which crashed during the early hours of Wednesday was caused by missiles fired by the Iranian military, stating that it was pure “human error.” 

Rouhani who described the tragedy as an “unforgivable mistake” offered his condolences to the mourning families in a tweet, in which he admitted that internal investigations proved that Iran was responsible, although unintentionally, for the crash that ended the lives of 176 people, with 82 of them being Iranians.

“Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people.

“Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake,” Rouhani’s tweet read.

The Iranian military admitted that the airplane flew very closely to a sensitive site belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and was mistaken for a confrontational aircraft.

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was first to publicly air that intelligence showed that Iran was responsible for the ‘unspeakable tragedy’ but the middle-eastern country had first rejected the suggestion.

It also announced that it would not be releasing the black box; a recorder in every airplane used to determine the cause of a plane crash where applicable, demanding that a representative of Boeing; the manufacturers of the Ukrainian airplane, be sent to Iran instead.

The downing of the Ukrainian plane happened few hours after over a dozen missiles were launched at two US bases in Iraq in response  to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, Iranian military general by an airstrike sanctioned by US president, Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has announced that the country insists Iran take full admission of guilt by bringing culprits to justice, settling affected families and tendering an official apology as well as making the entire process open and void of obstacles.

His statement shared on twitter read; “This morning brings the truth. Ukraine insists on a full admission of guilt. We expect Iran to bring those responsible to justice, return the bodies, pay compensation and issue an official apology. The investigation must be full, open & continue without delays or obstacles.”