Downing of Ukranian Airlines passenger jets demonstrates Iranian military's poor command and...

Iran's military suffers from poor command and control, a senior U.S. official has said after Iran admitted its armed forces accidentally shot down a Ukranian Airlines flight departing Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

After Iran initially denied reports that one if its missiles hit the aircraft near Tehran on Wednesday, its military announced on Saturday morning that it brought down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 "unintentionally due to human error." The crash shortly after the Iranian military launched ballistic rockets at a U.S. base in neighboring Iraq, and the republic's air defense units were on high alert. The missile attack came after a U.S. drone strike in Iraq ordered by President Donald Trump killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force.

An unnamed senior U.S. administration official told the The New York Times on Friday that the Iranian military has poor command and control, which he said was evidenced by the crash. He claimed the capabilities of the Iranian military can be overestimated by analysts in the West, and that there is often confusion across the military as communication between officials and units is below par.