YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has offered an apology for delaying the admission that the national military was responsible for downing the Ukrainian plane, Iran’s state TV broadcast the speech on January 15, reports TASS.

“I would like to offer an apology for the delay and for our tone”, the president said.

The Iranian President also urged the armed forces to provide more information about the crash of the Ukrainian plane.

On January 8, the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane en route from Tehran to Kiev crashed shortly after takeoff near Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. There were 176 people on board, and no one survived. Among them were citizens of Afghanistan, Germany, Iran, Canada, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Sweden. On January 11, Iran's General Staff of the Armed Forces issued a statement saying that the plane was accidentally downed by an Iranian missile after being mistaken for a cruise missile.