Ukrainian airliner shot down by Iranian missile system

The airplane is believed to have been shot down by two Russian-made SA-15 surface to air missiles. U.S. intelligence saw Iranian radar lock onto the jet before the plane was shot down.

The two U.S. officials said that the initial assessment in the Pentagon is that the missile strike was accidental, as Tehran’s anti-aircraft systems were on alert hours after the country fired more than a dozen missiles at bases housing American forces in Iraq.

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

The jet, a Boeing 737-800, crashed shortly after it took off from Imam Khomeini International Airport. Iranian officials immediately placed the blame on a technical issue and have refused to turn the black boxes over to the United States or to American-based Boeing.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that the plane was likely hit by a missile on Thursday.

“The evidence indicates that the place was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile,” Trudeau said, citing intelligence from both Canada and other countries.

Canadian Minister of Transport Marc Garneau said the day before that he couldn’t attribute the crash to technical issues and noted that there were “a number of possibilities” related to the crash.

Images Wednesday appeared to show fragments of a Tor M-1 missile, also known as Gauntlet, in a suburb in south Tehran.

The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council chief, Oleksiy Danilov, said Thursday that various theories behind the downing are being “studied” and include the possibility that the plane was brought down by an Iranian anti-aircraft weapon.

President Trump said on Thursday that he has “suspicions” about the fate of the airliner. He said it could have been a mistake “on the other side,” and noted that the commercial jet was flying in a “rough neighborhood.”