TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- A senior Iranian lawmaker said on Monday human error was proved to be the cause of the recent Ukrainian plane crash and the possibility of a cyberattack has been ruled out.
The remarks were made by chairman of the National Security Commission of the Iranian parliament, MP Mojtaba Zonnour, who cited the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces as the source of his claims.
"The defense system had not been given orders to target and shoot, and even if we assume that the defense system and the operator involved were disconnected from the headquarters, the person should have not … fired at will,” Zonnour said.
Even "the disconnection between the operator and the system, and the headquarters has not been proved yet,” he added. "So, the incident is accounted for by human error, and it was the operator who committed the error.”
Speculations about the disruption of Iran air defense system by a possible cyberattack came up after a Ukrainian airliner was shot down outside Tehran on January 8.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps accepted responsibility for the downing of the flight.