Iran’s Rouhani vows to ‘identify & prosecute’ all responsible for ‘disastrous mistake’ that led to Ukrainian jet downing

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has pledged to find and punish all those involved in the unintentional shooting down of a Ukrainian aircraft over Tehran, calling it a “disastrous mistake.”

An internal investigation has "concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane and death of 176 innocent people,” Rouhani said in a tweet.

Investigations continue to identify and prosecute this great tragedy and unforgivable mistake.

“My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families,” the president said in another post, offering “sincerest condolences” over the tragedy.

In the aftermath of the incident, Rouhani arranged for “compensation” payments to the victims' families, and ordered reforms of the country’s air defense system to prevent similar disasters in the future.

All 176 passengers and crew members on board the aircraft were killed in the incident that came hours after a series of Iranian missile strikes on American bases in Iraq – a response to a US drone strike which killed Iranian major general and Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

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