Iran has attempted to blame the United States for the Islamic Republic’s accidental downing of a Ukrainian jetliner last week. While Iran has confessed to shooting down the jet—killing all 176 people on board—its president said Tuesday that the “root causes” of the accident lay in President Donald Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. “It was the U.S. that caused such an incident to take place,” President Hassan Rouhani was quoted as saying Tuesday. Officials in Tehran have said their forces were prepared for a response to the missile attack on U.S. forces, which it launched in retaliation for Soleimani’s assassination, and the operator who fired on the plane believed it was an incoming American missile. The comments echo those from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who told Global News on Monday: “If there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families.”
