Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Ali Rabiee said the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces did an admirable job on Saturday when it candidly accepted responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian jetliner and declared that the plane was shot down due to a human error.

Taking responsibility for the incident was a praiseworthy move and a good beginning, Rabiee said, stressing that this transparency will definitely continue until the end of the investigations.

However, one cannot deny that the accident has caused great grief to the Iranian nation and to the bereaved families of the victims, the spokesman said, adding that the failure to release the information about the incident in a timely manner has damaged the public trust.

Rabiee further emphasized that the administration had no intention of hiding anything, saying the officials have not told any lies and just relied on the available information to make comments about the incident.

“The stances that had been taken (by the Iranian officials) were rooted in ignorance and being kept in the dark,” he explained.

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces announced on Saturday that the country’s air defense unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane on January 8 amid the highest level of readiness because of a possible military attack by the US.

Afterwards, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei ordered the Iranian Armed Forces to hold an inquiry about the faults and shortcomings that resulted in the unintentional downing of the plane.

Expressing his deepest sympathy to the families of the victims of the incident, the Leader urged the relevant officials to take the necessary cautionary measures in order to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.