Jul 12, 2020 - World

Iran claims misalignment of radar system caused downing of Ukrainian plane

Rashaan Ayesh

A woman and child look onto a memorial surronded by flowers for the passengers and crew of Ukrainian Boeing 737 — Photo: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Iranian investigators claimed in a report issued Saturday that the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran was due to a misalignment of an air defense unit's radar system, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Iran initially denied any involvement in the January crash, which killed all 167 passengers and crew members on board. The Iranian government later admitted that its forces mistakenly fired a missile at the plane.

The aircraft was shot down as tensions between Iran and the U.S. ran high following a drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq just days prior.

The state of play: The report claims that "a failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure” for aligning the radar, per the Post.

The missile operator allegedly attempted to contact supervisors but received no response.
The first two missiles were fired 20 seconds later.

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Iran claims misalignment of radar system caused downing of Ukrainian plane

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