Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said the downing of the Ukrainian plane that crashed in Tehran is an “unforgivable error” and “all those involved will be punished.”
In a televised speech on Tuesday, Hassan Rouhani also added that the “tragic event” would be investigated thoroughly, claiming “one person cannot be solely responsible for the crash”.
“There are others, too, and I want that this issue is expressed honestly,” he said, without elaborating.
He continued: “Iranian armed forces admitting their mistake is a good first step. We should assure people that it will not happen again” – but said his government was “accountable to Iranian and other nations who lost lives”.
He also ordered for a special court to be set up to investigate, with a “ranking judge and dozens of experts”.
“This is not an ordinary case” – he said.”The entire the world will be watching this court”.
Iran’s judiciary spokesman, Gholamhossein Esmaili, also confirmed that some people have been arrested for their role in the incident on Wednesday.
This comes after Ukraine demanded that Iran punish those guilty for the shooting of the Ukrainian airliner and compensate victims after they admitted they accidentally downed the Ukraine International Airlines plane, killing all 176 people.
