Missile Appears to Strike an Object in Surfaced Video Sparking Speculation About Ukrainian Airliner Crash
A video has surfaced that appears to reveal a missile hitting and exploding an object in the air around the time that a Ukrainian airliner crashed early Wednesday, which killed 176 people who were on board.
CNN obtained the video and reported: “CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the video, but the buildings seen in it appears similar to ones that are in the Iranian capitol suburb of Parand. The Ukrainian plane crashed just north of the suburb.” It is not confirmed whether a missile strike was the cause.
Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation Ali Abedzadeh called a missile strike hitting the plane “impossible” and said the speculation is “illogical,” according to Reuters.
Newly surfaced video appears to show the moment a Ukrainian airliner may have been hit by a missile in Iran before crashing near Tehran on Wednesday.
Read more here: https://t.co/s64ZvGDTYW pic.twitter.com/QaxcMwR3wT
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 10, 2020
However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that there is intelligence indicting Iranian missiles were likely the cause of the plane crash, though he said it might have been “unintentional.”
“We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence,” Trudeau said at a news conference, adding, “The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.”
Additionally, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a statement after Trudeau’s remark, “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,” Johnson continued, adding, “The UK continues to call on all sides urgently to deescalate to reduce tensions in the region.”
Iran accidentally downed Ukraine airliner with a surface-to-air missile, says U.S., Canada https://t.co/Jc2WtfcfLt pic.twitter.com/jCU9zsrNcL
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2020
The plane, which was last serviced two days prior, crashed early Wednesday in Iran, as IJR previously reported.
The crash occurred shortly after Iran had fired ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq where U.S. troops are stationed — no one was killed in the attack. It comes as tensions continued to escalate over the past week, since the airstrike last Thursday authorized by President Donald Trump that killed Iranian’s top Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
On Friday, Iran has said that they want to download the recording of the black boxes from the Ukrainian airliner, “but if we see that we can’t do that because the boxes are damaged, then we will seek help,” Abedzadeh said, as IJR reported.
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