MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th March, 2021) The Ukraine International Airlines' passenger jet downed by Iranian missiles near Tehran in early 2020 was mistaken by the Iranian military for a hostile target, according to the final report by the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization published on Wednesday.
In late February, the Iranian foreign ministry criticized Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, for suspecting that the country's military could have shot down the Ukrainian flight PS752 on purpose.
"The plane was mistaken for a hostile target by an air defense unit, two missiles were launched," the report said, as cited by the Iranian Tasnim news agency.
According to the Civil Aviation Organization, neither the technical condition of the plane nor the flight's trajectory and altitude could have a role behind the error.
The report also provides a number of recommendations to prevent similar disasters in the future.
On January 8, 2020, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines crashed soon after departing from an airport in Tehran. There were no survivors. Citizens of Iran, Canada, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom were among the 176 passengers and crew who died. Iran later revealed that its military had shot the plane down by accident.
