Leaked recording shows Iran knew it shot down Ukrainian plane

EPA-EFE/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
One of the engine of the plane lies among the wreckage after an Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 carrying 176 people crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran, killing everyone on board, in Shahriar, Iran, 08 January 2020.

- Advertisement -

Iran’s government knew their military had shot down a passenger jet and lied about it for days, Ukraine said Sunday.
A leaked audio recording surfaced of an Iranian pilot communicating with air-traffic control in Tehran. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged the recording’s authenticity in a report aired by a Ukrainian television channel.
The head of Iran’s investigation team, Hassan Rezaeifar, said the recording was handed over to the Ukrainian officials in Tehran on Monday. He also said it was legitimate.
The Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed minutes after takeoff from Tehran on 7 January, killing all on board. The crash of the aircraft came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing US soldiers, in retaliation for a US drone strike that killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known. However, Iranian authorities first said the crash was likely caused by “technical difficulties”, and insisted for days it was not a missile that brought down the plane.
Days later, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said an investigation into the tragedy had found “missiles fired due to human error” brought down the plane, and called it an “unforgivable mistake”.
In the leaked recording, a pilot for Iran Aseman Airlines reportedly radioed the air-traffic control tower to say he saw the “light of a missile”. The control tower appears to be unsuccessfully attempting to reach the plane on the radio as the Iranian pilot says he saw “an explosion”:
“Dear engineer, it was an explosion. We saw a very big light there, I don’t really know what it was”, the pilot says.
Iranian authorities condemned the publication of the recording as “unprofessional,” saying it was part of a confidential report.

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Latest

On the two-year anniversary, G7 Foreign Ministers address the devastating war in Sudan

After nearly 23 months of war, on March 21,...

Doom, gloom or boom?

While it is an almost painful daily task to...

Don't miss

On the two-year anniversary, G7 Foreign Ministers address the devastating war in Sudan

After nearly 23 months of war, on March 21,...

Doom, gloom or boom?

While it is an almost painful daily task to...

Romania utilizing all available resources to boost its energy independence

Romania is using all energy resources available, including natural...

On the two-year anniversary, G7 Foreign Ministers address the devastating war in Sudan

After nearly 23 months of war, on March 21, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies regained control of the presidential palace in...

Back to the 1970s: Flared trousers and tank tops. Is this the result of Trump’s tariff tantrums?

There are somewhere some dreadful photographs of this author wearing what we all once thought were the height of fashion and style. Generally, that...

Doom, gloom or boom?

While it is an almost painful daily task to ascertain where the Trump administration is positioned on the question of tariff policy, and traders...

Ahead of nuclear talks, Trump administration orders new sanctions on Iran’s shadow fleet and Chinese refiners

Washington’s sanctions campaign of “maximum pressure on Iran” is intensifying, despite the start of initial discussions between the U.S. and Iran over nuclear issues...

Romania utilizing all available resources to boost its energy independence

Romania is using all energy resources available, including natural gas as the country advances rapidly with Neptun Deep gas project and new wind and...

G7 condemns China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan

In a statement issued on April 6, 2025, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States...

U.S. sanctions officials for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy

The United States has imposed new sanctions on six Hong Kong and Chinese officials to punish China for the ongoing crackdown on democracy advocates...

Kallas reiterates close cooperation ahead of EU-Central Asia summit

Ahead of the first summit between the leaders of the European Union and the five countries of Central Asia in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on April...