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Not Guilty: Islamic Republic of Iran

"The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake. My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families," 

"The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran fully acknowledges that the tragedy was due to the erroneous actions of the military of this state."

"Further investigation is needed to identify all the causes and roots of this tragedy and prosecute the perpetrators of this unforgivable mistake and inform the honorable people of Iran and the families of the victims about it."

"It is also necessary to adopt the required arrangements and measures to address the weaknesses of the country's defense systems to make sure such a disaster is never repeated."Iranian President Hassan Rouhani 

"It [the long-awaited release of the Iranian report on the Ukraine airliner shootdown] raises more questions and more questions. It's very hard to believe this story."
"It's very hard to believe this story an this is the only scenario that makes it an accident. It was wrongly calibrated 107 degrees, but why were the other eight planes safe? Why?"
"It was calibrated wrong just for PS752?"
Hamed Esmaeilion, Toronto

People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport.

Iran's Civil Aviation Organization released its investigatory report on the shootdown of the Ukrainian airliner in January. A misaligned missile battery and associated errors in judgement enacted by the Iranian military was responsible for Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 being blasted out of the sky shortly after leaving Tehran when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps produced a disastrous crash killing 175 people, 55 of whom were citizens of Canada, 30 permanent Canadian residents, along with dozens of other Iranians returning to Canada to pursue their studies.

While originally claiming no responsibility for the plane's midair explosion, the Islamic Republic was forced to admit culpability once extensive evidence was produced that the plane had indeed been destroyed with its attendant loss of life by Iran. Ever since, Iran, though professing its willingness to cooperate with an Ukrainian investigation and that it would provide the further incriminating evidence contained within the plane's black boxes to France for highly technical interpretation, has done nothing of the kind.

The full circumstances surrounding the crash have not yet been revealed simply because Iran keeps stalling investigative efforts. Now it has produced its own, and Ukraine, Canada, Afghanistan, Sweden, Germany and Britain all survey the explanation with a healthy dose of skepticism. The shooting down of the Ukraine airliner occurred the very night Iran launched a ballistic-missile attack meant to target American soldiers in Iraq in response to the U.S. drone strike killing IRGC General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad earlier in the month.

Awaiting a U.S. counterstrike, the report speaks of an alteration in the "alertness level of Iran's air defence", despite which previously scheduled air traffic was permitted resumption, and eight civilian planes left Tehran that day. Two Revolutionary Guard missiles were shot from the surface-to-air missile battery targeting the Boeing 737-800 later in the day. A battery that had been relocated and according to the report, not properly reoriented.

The missile battery was manned by a crew unable to communicate with their command centre, misidentifying the civilian flight as a threat, opening fire without approval from ranking officials. "If each had not arisen, the aircraft would not have been targeted", points out the report. It was with the use of a Russian-made Tor system, NATO identifies as the SA-15 that Western intelligence believes was involved, a system mounted on a tracked vehicle which uses radar and a pack of eight missiles.

Mr. Esmaeilion of Toronto, is one of the founders of a group seeking justice for the Ukraine flight victims. He would like to know why it is that the plane his family was on had been targeted, leaving others that had taken flight a short time earlier, in the clear. He described the report as another in a series of attempts by Iran to describe the shootdown as an unfortunate error,  hoping this will be accepted and an in-depth investigation forestalled.

According to the report, the crew of the missile battery is entirely at fault, not the administration, not the Revolutionary Guard Corps. To that end, six individuals involved in the incident were arrested, three later released on bail, the remainder held in prison. The voice and data recorders are still in Iran's possession, though claims that they will be handed over to France continue to be assured.

Rescue teams work amid plane parts and debris at the crash site outside of Tehran. (AFP via Getty Images)