Dubai, Jan. 11 -- Iran said on Saturday it unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane killing 176 people on board due to human error, after initially denying it brought down the plane in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on US targets in Iraq.

Wednesday's crash heightened international pressure on Iran after months of friction with the United States and tit-for-tat military strikes. Washington killed an Iranian general last week in Iraq, prompting Tehran to fire at U.S. targets.

The United States and Canada, which had 57 citizens on board, had blamed an Iranian action for bringing down the aircraft. Ottawa had told Iran that "the world is watching."

On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said ...