Iranian President Hassan Rouhani assured his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that all those responsible for the crash of the Ukrainian plane would be held accountable, the press service of the Ukrainian president said on Saturday following the two leaders' phone conversation
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2020) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani assured his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that all those responsible for the crash of the Ukrainian plane would be held accountable, the press service of the Ukrainian president said on Saturday following the two leaders' phone conversation.
On Saturday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) acknowledge full responsibility for erroneously downing the Ukrainian Boeing 737 aircraft over Tehran. 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, the IRGC explained. Zelenskyy said that he expects Iran to admit guilt, officially apologize, punish all those guilty and pay compensation.
"Official Tehran assured that everyone involved in the disaster would be held accountable, and the Ukrainian expert group would be provided with all the necessary support for the further effective cooperation in the legal and technical fields," the statement says.
Rouhani expressed his condolences to the Ukrainian people and the families of the victims, it added.
"He apologized on behalf of the Iranian side for the tragedy that took 176 lives. The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran fully acknowledges that the tragedy was caused by the erroneous actions of the military of this state," it says.
On Wednesday, a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed in the vicinity of Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport shortly after takeoff. All 176 people on board were killed, including citizens of Iran, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
