Iran invited Boeing, the NTSB, and Ukraine into the country to investigate. Ukraine has been part of the probe.
In somewhat of a surprise, Iran has invited the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. accident investigation agency, to participate in the probe of the Ukrainian Boeing commercial jetliner that crashed near Tehran earlier this week.
The NTSB said in a statement Thursday it had received “formal notification” about the crash from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran and is sending “an accredited representative to the investigation of the crash.”
Iran has also invited Boeing, the U.S. manufacturer of the plane, to be a part of the investigation team.
Government sources have told VOA that U.S. officials have examined satellite data and imagery leading them to believe the airliner, just after taking off from Tehran, was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile after being targeted accidentally.
A U.S. official confirmed to VOA that he is confident the plane was shot down by Iran.
“At some point, they’ll release the black box. Ideally, they’ll get it to Boeing,” Trump added in remarks to reporters in the White House Roosevelt Room Thursday.
DON’T BE FOOLED
However, they appear to have cleaned up the place. Also, it is also not clear how much access the NTSB and Boeing will have.
This is NOT what a crash site should look like barely 2 days after an unresolved incident. pic.twitter.com/605piQpoM4
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) January 10, 2020
CBS crew just visited the #Ukrainian airlines crash site west of Tehran. Nine am local time. Virtually all pieces of the plane were removed yesterday – say locals. Scavengers now picking site clean. No security. Not cordoned off. No sign of any investigators. pic.twitter.com/hhNJyokhjq
— Elizabeth Palmer (@elizapalmer) January 10, 2020
SOME POSSIBLE EVIDENCE
In this video, which appears to show the moment the plane was hit or exploded, it looks like the plane was hit.
The photos and the videos aren’t verified.
A newly surfaced video appears to show the moment the Ukrainian airliner #PS752 was hit before crashing near the airport in Tehran. DW asked @bellingcat‘s @N_Waters89 to explain their investigation into the footage. pic.twitter.com/QD1qFS2G6w
— DW News (@dwnews) January 10, 2020
Second image (right) of Tor anti-aircraft missile debris, supposedly from near the #PS752 crash site. Still unverified, and still going to be very hard to geolocate it based on what’s visible in the image. h/t @Liberalist_30 pic.twitter.com/TQNRp6hopj
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) January 9, 2020
Even if there was Streetview imagery of the area it’s claimed to be taken in we’d still be look to match things like the wear on the curb-stones, which requires good quality reference imagery.
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) January 9, 2020
This is the original video of the plane on fire and crashing:
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And this is the same regime that the Democrats demand Republicans trust on the nuclear deal…