Iran admits it shot down plane

An Iranian officer mistook a Ukrainian jetliner for an incoming cruise missile and decided to fire on it, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh of the Revolutionary Guard said Saturday. In a broadcast on state TV, the general accepted full responsibility for the plane crash outside Tehran on Wednesday hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on U.S. positions in Iraq. All 176 people on board were killed.

Is Iran really sorry? Hajizadeh said when he heard about the tragedy, “I wished I was dead.” Supreme leader Ali Khamenei expressed his “deep sympathy” for the families of the victims and called on the armed forces to “pursue probable shortcomings and guilt in the painful incident.” But President Hassan Rouhani blamed the downing of the plane in part on “threats and bullying” by the United States. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the perpetrators should be brought to justice and Iran should compensate victims’ families.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report for WORLD Magazine about the threats to Christians in Iraq amid the U.S.-Iran conflict.