The Iranian regime, which has been blamed for the downing of the Ukrainian plane, is investigating how a cyberattack by the US may have been the reason why the Iranian weapon system operator confused the passenger aircraft for a cruise missile.
The Iranians believe that the Americans disabled their radar system after Iran fired missiles at US troops housed in Iraqi bases in Anbar and Erbil.
Hours after attacking the US bases in Iraq, the Iranians had issued a warning of a possible retaliatory attack by the Americans using cruise missiles.
"...The Islamic Republic of Iran's Armed Forces were on the highest level of readiness in order to respond to possible threats," Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi, the Coordinating Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces General Headquarters said in a statement.
Brigadier General Abdollahi said that a probe team has been formed to investigate how the US disabled the Iranian radar system that led to confusion as the weapons operator had difficulty receiving the message from the command center about the removal of the cruise missile attack threat.
The operator then mistook the Ukrainian passenger plane for an incoming American missile and fired at it.
Iran President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday addressing the country acknowledged that the country took responsibility for the mistake, however, he still maintained that the overall responsibility of the incident "goes back to America."
Iran in the meantime has arrested a man who filmed the moment Ukraine International Airlines' Flight 752 was hit by two missiles by the Iranian Guards on January 8.
There were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British nationals on the Boeing aircraft operated by UIA. All 179 people on board the Boeing 737, including nine crew, were killed.
It is suspected that Iran used Russian surface-to-air missiles to bring down the UIA Boeing 737 aircraft. There were unconfirmed reports that shrapnels of a Russian Tor missile were found amidst the debris of the Ukranian passenger plane.
