Tehran crisis: plane downed by Iranian missile, western officials believe

OTTAWA. KAZINFORM - The Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday was accidentally shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, western security officials believe, The Guardian reports.
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Intelligence sources told the Guardian their assessments suggest two surface-to-air missiles had targeted the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 that went down in Iran on Wednesday morning, killing all 176 people onboard.

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau said his government «will not rest» until it got justice.

«We have intelligence, including from our allies and own intelligence that the plane was shot down by Iranian surface-to-air missiles,» Trudeau said. «Canadians want answers. That means transparency, accountability and justice.»

Western agencies are understood to have picked up signals of the missile launches followed by the traces of an explosion. A British source said: «The assessment is that it looks like it is a tragic accident.»

In a statement on Thursday night, Boris Johnson said: «There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional. We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation.»

Of the 176 people onboard, 78 were Iranian, 63 were Canadian and 11 were Ukrainian (including nine crew members), along with 10 Swedes, seven Afghans, four Britons and three German nationals. There was some confusion over the nationality of those killed with many holding dual citizenship.

The passenger aircraft crashed in farmland on the outskirts of Tehran a few hours after Iran had launched more than a dozen missiles at US forces stationed in Iraq, during a period when Revolution Guards commanders say they were expecting an imminent American response and were on high alert.

The revelation that the plane might have been shot down will prompt a reassessment of the consequences of Donald Trump’s decision to assassinate the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani last week, an escalation of hostilities that brought the region to the brink of all-out conflict.

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