- Iran admitted responsibility for shooting down a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 after it took off from Tehran, claiming it was an accident.
- History of aircraft shootdowns shows a history of mistaken aircraft identity amid rising geopolitical tension.
- The US accidentally shot down an Iranian commercial airliner in the 1980s, killing 290 passengers.
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Iranian authorities admitted on Saturday that Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down by one of its missiles, revising former claims of a mechanical issue. The aircraft, en route to Kyiv from Tehran, crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran Airport, with Iran claiming it had strayed too close to a Revolutionary Guard base.
Authorities blamed increasing tensions between the Islamic republic and the US in the days leading up to the shoot down as one of the main reasons for the crash. Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, placed the blame squarely on the US for the accidental discharge, citing "US adventurism."
Tensions between the two countries escalated following the drone assassination of Qassem Soleimani, one of the country's top generals, in Baghdad, Iraq.
It's not the first time that geopolitical tensions contributed to accidental shootdowns, here's a list of other times civilian airliners have been shot down by mistake.