The CEO of a Canadian company affected by the Ukrainian plane crash on Wednesday has said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East were ultimately responsible for death of victims.

Michael McCain, chief executive of Canadian food packaging company Maple Leaf Foods, said Sunday night in a series of tweets posted on his company’s verified Twitter account that he believes Trump’s actions in the Middle East were ultimately responsible for their deaths, describing them as “the collateral damage” of an “ill-conceived plan to divert attention from political woes,” CNN reported.

“The collateral damage of this irresponsible, dangerous, ill-conceived behavior? 63 Canadians needlessly lost their lives in the crossfire, including the family of one of my MLF colleagues (his wife + 11-year old son)!  We are mourning and I am livid. Michael McCain,” he tweeted.

He said in another tweet, “A narcissist in Washington tears world accomplishments apart; destabilizes the region. The US now unwelcomed everywhere in the area including Iraq; tensions escalated to a feverish pitch. Taking out despicable military leader terrorist? There are a hundred like him, standing next to in line.”

“U.S. government leaders unconstrained by checks/balances concocted an ill-conceived plan to divert focus from political woes,” he said in another tweet.

The passenger plane, with 176 people aboard, was mistakenly downed on Wednesday morning by the Iranian military. It happened a few hours after Iran fired dozens of missiles at the U.S. airbase inside Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3.

The victims of the crash included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British nationals.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the IRGC, said Iran’s air defense systems had been put on the “highest level of readiness” and alerted to possible cruise missile attack. Hajizadeh said the operator of the air defense system had mistaken the plane for a cruise missile. 
 
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday expressed apologies and condolences to all those who have been affected by the tragic Ukrainian plane incident, saying “the U.S. adventurism” has led to this tragedy.

“A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster,” Zarif tweeted.

NA/PA