Originally Posted by
olasek
They did admit they shot it down which is huge comparing to Russian actions.
I'm not sure if they had a choice, since it happened under the noses of a bunch of Iranian warships and the whole event apparently took place within PSR range of the ATC from which the unfortunate airliner took off. Whereas, in case of MH17, there seems to be no firm radar evidence of involvement of either side (Ukrainians saw nothing, Americans either saw nothing or aren't releasing anything to the public). We have circumstantial evidence pointing towards Russians, but they have plenty of plausible deniability. If Americans do have something that they haven't shared with journalists but will pass to the team conducting the investigation, things may change after the release of the preliminary report.