Iran blames wayward missile battery team for January downing of Ukrainian passenger plane

Iran is blaming poor communication and a wayward missile battery team for the downing of a commercial Ukrainian airliner in January, saying the team "misidentified the civilian flight as a threat" and failed to get approval from military leadership before firing. 

Iran's Civil Aviation Organization released a report over the weekend concluding the Iranian missile battery that shot down the plane had not been appropriately reoriented after being moved from another location.

The Associated Press said that the report pointed to the individuals operating the missile equipment: "Those manning the missile battery could not communicate with their command center, they misidentified the civilian flight as a threat and opened fire twice without getting approval from ranking officials," according to the AP. 

The outlet quoted from the report: “If each had not arisen, the aircraft would not have been targeted.”

The destroyed Ukrainian aircraft, made by the U.S. company Boeing, had departed from an Iranian airport and was heading to Ukraine when it was shot down, killing 176 aboard.

The incident occurred on the same night that Iran retaliated against the U.S. for the Jan. 3 attack that took out Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani while he was in Iraq.