Iran announced Saturday that its military ‘unintentionally’ shot down a Ukrainian jetliner , killing all 176 aboard. The statement came Saturday morning and blamed “human error" for the shootdown.

The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces.

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believe Iran shot down the aircraft.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that intelligence sources indicate the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile.

Canada's foreign minister has announced the creation of an international working group of countries to press Iran for a thorough investigation into the plane crash that killed 176 people, including 57 Canadians.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois Champagne says a new International Co-ordination and Response Group, as it is known, includes countries outside Iran who lost citizens, with the exception of Germany.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines flight near Tehran on Wednesday included citizens from Iran, Sweden, Afghanistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The US promised “appropriate action" Friday in response to its assessment that an Iranian missile was responsible for the crash.

Ukraine's national security service says it is now considering two possible causes of the Ukrainian airliner disaster in Iran that killed 176 people — either terrorism or an anti-aircraft missile hit.

Service director Ivan Bakanov says that although Western claims of a missile are attracting the most attention, there are still questions to be answered, including the flight range of the presumed missile and the “nuances" of operating the launch mechanism.

He says the possibility of a terrorist attack is being carefully studied.

The Trump administration on Friday announced a new wave of sanctions on Iran following this week's missile strikes by the Islamic Republic on US bases in Iraq.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin say the new sanctions will target eight senior Iranian officials involved in “destabilizing" activities in the Middle East as well as Tuesday's missile strike.

The strike by Iran came in retaliation for the US killing of a senior Iranian general in a drone strike.

Mnuchin said President Donald Trump will issue an executive order imposing sanctions on anyone involved in the Iranian textile, construction, manufacturing or mining sectors. They will also impose separate sanctions against the steel and iron sectors.





This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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