“I take full responsibility and I will obey whatever decision is taken,” Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said in remarks broadcast on state television.
“I would prefer to die rather than witness such an incident.”Iran “deeply regrets” the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner earlier this week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a tweet on Saturday.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” he wrote on Twitter. “My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences.”
The investigation will continue, Rouhani wrote in a separate tweet.
Iran’s foreign minister also offered his country’s “profound regrets, apologies and condolences” after the armed forces admitted shooting down a Ukrainian airliner due to “human error”.
“A sad day,” Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter. “Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster,” he said.
“Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”All 176 people aboard the airliner were killed in the crash shortly after takeoff.
Ukraine expects a full investigation, a full admission of guilt and compensation from Iran after the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement on Saturday.
Iran had earlier said it mistakenly shot down a plane killing all 176 people aboard and voiced its deep regret, after initially denying it brought down the aircraft in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on US targets in Iraq.
Zelenskiy said “Iran has pleaded guilty to crashing the Ukrainian plane. But we insist on a full admission of guilt.”“We expect from Iran assurances of their readiness for a full and open investigation, bringing those responsible to justice, the return of the bodies of the dead, the payment of compensation, official apologies through diplomatic channels,” he added.
