Iran plane crash : Iran says it “unintentionally” shot down
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kiev operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737–800 operating the route was shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran, which attributed it to human error. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani later described the accident as an “unforgivable mistake”. All 176 passengers and crew were killed, making it the deadliest aviation disaster in Iran since the 2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash. The incident was the first fatal aviation incident for Ukraine International Airlines since the start of its operations in 1992.
Initially, Iranian aviation authorities denied the plane was struck, saying there was a technical error with the plane. Ukrainian authorities, after initially deferring to Iran’s explanation, said a shootdown of the flight was one of their main working theories. American, Canadian and British officials stated that they believed the aircraft had been shot down by a Russian-made Tor M1 surface-to-air missile launched by Iran. Three days later, on 11 January, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that they had shot down the aircraft after erroneously identifying it as a US cruise missile.
The incident came during a period of increased tensions between the United States and Iran, five days after a drone strike that killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani and hours after retaliatory ballistic missile attacks by Iran on US forces in Iraq. It was preceded by an order from the US Federal Aviation Administration that all American civilian aircraft avoid Iranian airspace and was followed by similar orders by several other nations and airlines. The crash occurred about five hours after Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes on US positions in Iraq for the killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani. Iran was on the highest state of defensive alert and according to Commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was “totally prepared for a full-fledged war”.
The flight was operated by Ukraine International Airlines, the flag carrier and the largest airline of Ukraine, on a scheduled flight from the Iranian capital Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport to Boryspil International Airport in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Emergency officials confirmed that the aircraft was carrying 176 people on board, including nine crew members. Fifteen of the passengers were children. Flight 752 was scheduled to take off at 05:15 local time (UTC+3:30), but was delayed. It departed Stand 116 and took off from Runway 29R at 06:12:47 local time and was expected to land in Kiev at 08:00 local time (UTC+2:00). The final ADS-B data received was at 06:14:45, less than two minutes after departure. On 8 January, Iran’s Road and Transportation Ministry released a statement that the aircraft burst into flames after a fire started in one of its engines, causing the pilot to lose control and crash into the ground. The airline opined that pilot error was impossible to be cited as the cause of the crash as the pilots had exclusively been trained for the Tehran flights for years, noting that Tehran Airport was “not a simple airport”.
Iranian and Ukrainian government sources initially blamed mechanical issues aboard the aircraft for its crash However, the Ukrainian government later retracted its statement and said that anything was possible, refusing to rule out that the aircraft was hit by a missile. Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that there should not be any speculation about the cause of the crash. On 9 January 2020, United States intelligence and defense officials said that they believe the aircraft had been shot down by an Iranian Tor missile, based on evidence from reconnaissance satellite imagery and radar data. Ukrainian authorities stated that a shootdown was one of the “main working theories”, while Iranian authorities denied this, stating that allegations of a missile hit were “psychological warfare”. British defense officials agreed with the American assessment of a shootdown.[69] Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau said evidence from multiple sources, including Canadian intelligence, suggest the aircraft was shot down by an Iranian missile.
