Canada Claims "Plane Shot Down by Iranian Missile"

At the crash site of Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737, which crashed near Tehran on January 8, shortly after takeoff. AKBAR TAVAKOLI / AFP

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Thursday January 9 that several intelligence sources, including Canadian, suggest that the Boeing 737 which crashed near Tehran on Wednesday was "Shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile".

"We have information from multiple sources, including from our allies and from our own services (which) indicate that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. It may not have been intentional. "

Earlier, the American television channels CNN and CBS as well as the magazine Newsweek Intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity Thursday said they believed Tehran’s air defense planes shot down UIA flight PS752 just after takeoff. "I have my doubtssaid the President of the United States, Donald Trump. I feel like something terrible has happened. " Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have called for an investigation "Complete" and "Transparent" about the accident.

According to the first elements of the Iranian investigation, the plane had turned around after a "Problem". Ukrainian authorities have said they are examining several hypotheses: an anti-aircraft missile, a bomb explosion on board or a collision with a drone.

Iran immediately rejected the missile hypothesis. "Such rumors make no sense"said Ali Abedzadeh, president of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) and deputy minister of transport. "Several domestic and international flights were flying at the same time in Iranian space at the same altitude of 8000 feet, and this story of missile strike on the plane cannot at all be correct", also reacted the Iranian transport ministry.

"Deliver the black boxes"

Speaking of the device’s black boxes, found as early as Wednesday, Abedzadeh said that "Iran and Ukraine have the means to download (the) information" that they contain. "If more specialized measures are necessary to extract and analyze information, we can do it in France or in other countries"he said.

The Mehr agency, close to the Iranian ultraconservatives, quoted Abedzadeh's comments on Wednesday as saying that Tehran "Would not give the black boxes (…) to the Americans". Without explicitly denying this article, the ministry's press release rejects "Rumors of Iran's resistance to delivering the black boxes (…) to the United States".

Nothing formally obliges Iran to have this material analyzed in the United States, but any country that does not have the technical means can entrust the task to one of the few able to do so: United States, Germany and France , especially.

Initial findings from the CAD investigation indicate that UIA flight PS752, which crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from the Iranian capital, had turned around after a "Problem" and a fire on board.

The tragedy, which left 176 people dead, occurred amid serious tensions between Tehran and Washington, and shortly after the Iranians fired missiles at bases used by the US military in Iraq. There is no indication, however, that these events are linked and Ukrainian President Zelensky warned Wednesday against any "Speculation".

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