The Iranian Revolutionary Guard accepts full responsibility for downing Ukrainian Airlines flight 752.

Iran on Saturday admitted that it shot down Ukrainian Airlines flight 752, which crashed near Tehran on Wednesday with 176 people on board.

Iran's head of aerospace today said: "I wish I could die and not witness such an accident."

An earlier statement from Iran's military said it shot down the plane by accident after it got close to a military base.

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Iran's Revolutionary Guard has accepted full responsibility for the downing of Ukrainian Airlines flight 752, with one senior Iranian official saying he would rather have died than witness the disaster.

Iran on Saturday admitted shooting down the passenger jet with 176 on board, saying that it had mistaken the plane for a threat after it flew close to one of its sensitive military sites. All 176 passengers lost their lives.

Amirali Hajizadeh, the Revolutionary Guard's head of aerospace, later on Saturday said that Iran's Revolutionary Guard accepted full responsibility for the disaster, in a video posted online by Iranian state television.

"I wish I could die and not witness such an accident," Hajizadeh said, according to Reuters.

Iran initially denied responsibility for the plane crash, which it sought to blame on a mechanical problem with the jet, a Boeing 737-800.

It made the admission two days after the US, Canadian, and British governments blamed the crash on an Iranian missile, citing their intelligence agencies.

The president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, described the shoot-down in a tweeted statement as a "great tragedy" and am "unforgivable mistake."

He said that those involved would be prosecuted by the Iranian authorities.