Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said the country’s investigation into the accidental shooting down of a passenger plane will be made public. “By the strict orders of the commander in chief [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the other heads of the government the dimensions of this bitter incident will be presented to the people,” Hatami said Jan. 23 at a ceremony commemorating the armed forces.
On Jan. 8, after Iran had launched missiles at the US Ain Al-Assad base in Iraq, surface-to-air missiles were launched at the Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 people on board. The Civil Aviation Organization of Iran later said that Russian-made Tor-M1 surface-to-air missiles were used in the accidental downing of the plane; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the plane had been mistaken for a US cruise missile.
