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       A woman places a candle beneath photographs of some of the people who died in the downing of Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 in Iran, during a vigil for the victims of the flight, at the Har El synagogue in West Vancouver, on Jan. 19, 2020.

       DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press

       A Canadian government forensic report into the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 will say the disaster was caused by “a series of reckless acts and omissions” by Iranian officials.

       An official summary of the report, obtained by The Globe and Mail, reveals that the Canadian investigation will accuse Iran of “incompetence, recklessness, and wanton disregard for human life,” while falling short of accusing Iran of intentionally shooting down the passenger plane on Jan. 8, 2020.

       Though Iran has prevented Canadian and Ukrainian authorities from carrying out a full on-the-ground investigation, the report appears to accept the Iranian government’s official contention that the disaster was a result of human error – a surface-to-air missile operator who “likely acted on his own” in deciding to launch the missiles that struck Flight PS752.

       The passengers of UIA Flight 752: What we know about those we lost in the disaster

       All 176 people on board – including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents, and 53 others who had been travelling to Canada via the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv – were killed when a pair of Iranian anti-aircraft missiles struck the plane shortly after it took off from Tehran’s main airport.

       “A series of reckless acts and omissions by Iranian civil and military authorities caused a dangerous situation where risks were underestimated and not taken seriously. These acts and omissions - both in their failure to properly manage the safety of Iran’s airspace and in deficiencies in the development and implementation of their plans, systems and procedures – combined to create conditions where the surface-to-air missile (SAM) unit operator likely misidentified Flight PS752 as a hostile target,” the summary reads.

       The forensic team, which was headed by Jeff Yaworski, a former deputy director of operations at CSIS, found that “Iran showed a blatant disregard for the safety of civilian aircraft by failing to ensure the safe management of its airspace” by not informing civilian aircraft of military activities that night.

       Several hours before the disaster, Iran had fired multiple volleys of rockets at U.S. military targets in Iraq, in retaliation for the assassination of a top Iranian general several days earlier. Iranian air defences were then placed on highest alert in anticipation of a possible U.S. military response, but civilian planes including Flight 752 continued to fly through Iranian airspace.

       However, the report found that the SAM unit operator “likely acted on his own in making the decision to launch the missiles,” something the summary of the report says “raises significant questions of incompetence, poor training, and lack of adequate protocols.”

       The report also places blame on those higher up in the Iranian military, finding that “numerous opportunities to identify and correct the missile operator’s dangerous actions and prevent the tragedy were missed.” The report notes that Iran has taken no action since the disaster to prevent the tragedy from reoccurring.

       The finding that the SAM operator likely acted alone “in no way absolves Iran of its responsibility for the death of 176 innocent people,” the summary reads. “It is due to Iran’s failures to take adequate measures in these three areas that it bears responsibility for the downing of Flight PS752.”

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       The summary says the forensic report was “based upon an examination and analysis of all available information, evidence, and intelligence about the Flight PS752 disaster, including an in-depth review of Iran’s Aviation Accident Investigation Board’s final report.”

       The full version of the Canadian report will be released at a press conference in Ottawa later on Thursday.

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