U.S., Canada: Iran mistakenly shot down Ukrainian plane

The U.S. and the Canadian administrations have suggested d that Iranian missiles must have shot down a Ukrainian plane near Tehran on Wednesday.

The New York Times on Thursday quoted a U.S. official as saying that two missiles fired from SA-15, a Russian-made Iranian air defense system, brought down the plane. The newspaper unveiled a 19-second clip, which shows the plane crash. “Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House, suggesting that Iran downed the Ukrainian plane.

Canada, which had the second largest number of victims of 63 after Iran (82), pointed Iran as the culprit as well. “We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a press conference. “This may well have been unintentional.” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said the Ukrainian jet being shot down by a Russian-made Tor surface-to-air missile was one of the possible causes of the incident.

The Iranian authorities, however, denied the allegations, saying that it is a “big lie.” Iranian government spokesperson Ali Rabiei said it is a psychological operation targeting Iran and the country welcomes the participation of all countries which have lost their nationals in the mishap. The National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing, the builder of the plane, will join the probe of the incident.


Yong Park parky@donga.com