Iran's foreign minister said 'US adventurism' is to blame for the Iranian military shooting down a passenger jet

• Iran admitted early Saturday that it shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet that had just left Tehran.
• However, its foreign minister immediately said that the US also bore responsibility.
• In a tweet published moments after the admission, Javad Zarif blamed the error on "a time of crisis caused by US adventurism."
• The jet was shot down hours after Iran launched missiles at US troops in Iraq, itself a retaliation for the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
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Iran's foreign minister blamed "US adventurism" for causing the Iranian military to shoot down a Ukrainian passenger plane with 176 people on board.

Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter that the United States created the conditions in which Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps accidentally launched a missile at Ukrainian Airlines flight 752.

A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces:

Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster

Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.
💔

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 11, 2020

The jet was shot down, leaving no survivors, not long after Iran launched a missile bombardment at Iraqi military bases housing Iraqi, US, and coalition troops. The strike caused no casualties.

It was a response to US President Donald Trump ordering the assassination by drone strike of General Qassem Soleimani, who was the most prominent and revered commander of Iran's military.

Iranian officials initially blamed the crash on mechanical error aboard the plane, which was operated by Ukrainian International Airlines and was on its way to Kyiv.

However, not long after dawn in Tehran, officials in Iran published the conclusions of a preliminary investigation in which Iran's armed forces admitted shooting down the jet, and apologized.

SEE ALSO: Everything we know so far about the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crash in Iran

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