Iran blames bad communication, alignment for jet shootdown
Source: AP
By AMIR VAHDAT and JON GAMBRELL
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian investigators are blaming a misaligned missile battery and miscommunication between soldiers and their commanders for the Revolutionary Guard shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner in January, killing 176 people.
The report released late Saturday by Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization comes months after the Jan. 8 crash near Tehran, which authorities for days denied having hand in.
The shootdown happened the same night Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq, its response to the American drone strike that killed Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.
At the time Iranian troops were bracing for a U.S. counterstrike and appear to have mistaken the plane for a missile.
FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2020 file photo, rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of Tehran, Iran. Iranian investigators are blaming a misaligned missile battery and miscommunication between soldiers and their commanders for the Revolutionary Guard shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner in January, killing 176 people. The report released late Saturday, July 11, 2020 by Iran's Civil Aviation Organization comes months after the crash. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
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