The Iranian air defense system confused the Ukrainian passenger plane with a hostile cruise missile and due to disrupted communication the operator took a single-handed decision to shoot it down, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) aerospace force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh said on Saturday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2020) The Iranian air defense system confused the Ukrainian passenger plane with a hostile cruise missile and due to disrupted communication the operator took a single-handed decision to shoot it down, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) aerospace force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh said on Saturday.
"The air defense system confused the Ukrainian plane with a cruise missile 19 kilometers away [12 miles]," Hajizadeh said at a press conference.
He said the responsible air defense system operator experienced connectivity malfunctioning and could not reach out for making a decision. According to Hajizadeh, the operator had only 10 seconds to decide whether to hit the target or not and "made a bad choice."
