Evidence suggests an Iranian missile brought down a Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near Tehran, possibly in error, Western leaders say.
Canada and the UK called for a full and thorough investigation into the crash, which killed all 176 people on board.
The plane, a Boeing 737-800, was headed for Kiev when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini Airport in the Iranian capital.
The victims include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals.
Iran’s civil aviation chief, however, said he was “certain” that the plane was not hit by a missile.
The crash came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.
US media have speculated that the timing of the crash suggests the plane may have been mistaken for a US warplane as Iran prepared for possible US retaliation for the strikes.
Victims included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians as well as nationals from Sweden, the UK, Afghanistan and Germany.
CBS News quoted US intelligence sources as saying a satellite detected infrared “blips” of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion.
Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted a Pentagon and senior US intelligence officials, as well as an Iraqi intelligence official, as saying they believed Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was hit by a Russian-made Tor missile.
Video obtained by the New York Times appeared to show a missile streaking across the night sky over Tehran and then exploding on contact with a plane. About 10 seconds later a loud explosion is heard on the ground. The plane, ablaze, continues to fly.
Who will investigate?
Amid tensions heightened by the US killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on 3 January, Iran initially said it would not hand over the recovered black box flight recorders to Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, or to the US.
However, an Iranian official later told Reuters the US had been formally invited to take part in the investigation, and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed it had assigned an investigator.
Boeing said it would support the NTSB in the inquiry, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it had also been invited to the accident site by Tehran.
Under global aviation rules Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers are typically involved.
Iranian TV pictures later in the day showed the crash site being bulldozed.
What’s been said about the possible missile strike?
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had received intelligence from multiple sources indicating that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, adding that it was possible that this was unintentional.
“This reinforces the need for a thorough investigation,” he said. “Canadians have questions and they deserve answers.”
But he said it was too early to apportion blame or draw any conclusions, and refused to go into detail about the evidence.
The Canadians on the flight were expecting to fly on to Toronto from Kyiv.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed Mr Trudeau’s words and said Britain was working closely with Canada and other international partners affected by the crash.
Speaking in Canada, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said British nationals were advised not to travel to Iran, “given the body of information that UIA Flight 752 was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, and the heightened tensions”.
Newsweek quoted sources as saying that Iran’s anti-aircraft systems were probably active following its attacks on the US airbases.
Two Pentagon officials had assessed that the incident was accidental, Newsweek added.
Earlier on Thursday, Oleksiy Danylov, the secretary of Ukraine’s security and defence council, said in a Facebook post (in Ukrainian) that a Tor missile strike was one of four possible causes being considered: The others are:
*A mid-air collision with a drone or other flying object
*Engine destruction/explosion due to technical reasons
*An explosion inside the plane as a result of a terror attack
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Iranian government said reports that missiles downed the Ukraine International Airlines flight that crashed near Tehran Wednesday are “a big lie,” state-run media reported.
The spokesman, Ali Rabiei, accused the United States of spreading misinformation about the crash, in which all 176 people on board were killed.
“No one will assume responsibility for such a big lie once it is known that the claim had been fraudulent,” Rabiei said in a statement, according to Press TV.
“It is unfortunate that the psychological operation of the US government, and those supporting it knowingly and unknowingly, are adding insult to the injury of the bereaved families and victimizing them for certain goals by propagating such fallacies.”
At a news conference on Friday, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation (CAOI) chief Ali Abedzadeh repeated his view that a missile was not the cause of the crash.
“The thing that is clear to us and that we can say with certainty is that this plane was not hit by a missile. If a rocket or missile hits a plane, it will free fall.
“As I said last night, this plane for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the air, and the location shows that the pilot was attempting to return,” he told reporters.
He said the plane’s black boxes — which may contain data that would help investigators figure out what caused the crash — were damaged, so Tehran may need help decoding them.
BBC, CNN
