Several arrested in Iran in Ukrainian plane crash case

Iran’s authorities have arrested several people for their role in the Ukrainian plane crash, judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Esmaili said.

"People in this case have already been arrested, but we are so far at the initial stage of the investigation," TASS cited him as saying.

On January 8, a Boeing-737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines bound for Kiev crashed minutes after takeoff at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. The crash killed all 176 people on board - citizens of Afghanistan, Germany, Iran, Canada and Ukraine and also British and Swedish subjects.

On January 11, Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff released a statement admitting the plane had been shot down accidentally. According to Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the plane was misidentified as a cruise missile by the air defense force.