‘I wish I was dead’: Senior IRGC commander accepts full responsibility for downing Ukrainian plane, apologizes to nation

11 Jan, 2020 10:13 / Updated 22 minutes ago

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© Reuters / Nazanin Tabatabaee 

Commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said he “wished he was dead” upon learning of the Ukrainian jet downing and accepted full responsibility for the incident.

“After hearing about the crash of the Ukrainian plane, I wished to die”, Hajizadeh said during a press conference on Saturday.

I wish I had died and not witnessed such an accident

The commander explained that the incident had occurred as the country was bracing for potential US strikes and that the “likelihood of conflict” between the two nations has been “unprecedented” since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

According to an early assessment, the Ukrainian plane was erroneously identified as an incoming cruise missile, which resulted in the tragedy.

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Hajizadeh stated that the IRGC notified the authorities that it had likely hit the plane back right after the incident, yet this information was not disclosed to the public while the crash site was being investigated. Neither IRGC nor the country’s military sought to hide the incident, the due procedure was to be followed, he explained.