The Ukrainian plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s international airport was shot down by mistake by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, Pentagon officials told Fox News. CNN reports they are leaning towards that as an explanation.
The crew on the Boeing 737 never had the chance to make a radio call and were attempting to turn back for the airport as the burning plane went down and exploded seconds before crashing. There is new evidence that led to the Pentagon’s determination.
The aircraft is believed to have been struck by a Russia-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system, known to NATO as Gauntlet, the three officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told Newsweek.
Newsweek noted that images that began circulating on Wednesday shows what looked to be fragments of a Tor M-1 missile that were said to be found in a Tehran suburb.
One Pentagon and one U.S. senior intelligence official told Newsweek that the Pentagon’s assessment is that the incident was accidental.
Spy satellite imagery suggests that the Ukraine-bound passenger airliner was shot down by Iranian missiles, NBC News reported Thursday.
All 176 souls on board were killed.
“I heard a massive explosion and all the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere,” Din Mohammad Qassemi, an Iranian who lives near the crash site, told the Associated Press. Qassemi said he had been watching news broadcasts about the Iranian missile attack in revenge for the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani when he heard the plane hit the ground outside his home.
The crash can be seen on video and it appears to be on fire from the moment it is spotted.
Al-Hadath, an Arabic news site, posted a video of the Ukrainian airliner as it crashed.
The previous video sheds a little light on this particular one.
https://twitter.com/FlightModeblog/status/1215329329275637761
Another video from another angle. It’s of such poor quality it’s impossible to see missiles.
It appears someone is driving along filming,
https://twitter.com/FlightModeblog/status/1215415157821706240
This just out……….U.S. and Canadian Officials Now Confirm an Iranian Missile Shot Down Ukraine Air Flight 752…“We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional.” – PM Trudeau
Another video. Not much known about it.
https://twitter.com/NarimanGharib/status/1215334836937928705
Hmm, “Was” it an accident. Rouhani on the 6th made reference to IR655 flight. Could PS752 have been deliberate with an attempt to blame the US for shooting it down.
https://twitter.com/DoctorOLALA/status/1215330166257307648
It almost sounded like there may be questions whether or not the US could have caught the missile launch. What kind of idiot thinks that. For at least 50 years we have been able to detect missile launches from Russia. And Now, 50 years later, we wouldn’t be able to detect launches of anti-aircraft missiles. Really, just see what capability there is from Google earth, and that technology was even more advanced well before Google.
I noticed it the very first time I saw the video. You can see a pinpoint of light around .23 going in the direction of the aircraft. Watching the track of that light does make it appear it was a missile hit. Furthermore, you see similar lights going past the aircraft at around .6. Some were concluding this was debris From the aircraft. Considering the .23 mark with this suggest the same, in color and direction. I suspected there were multiple missiles sent out. Also, these types of missiles are not designed for impact but rather to spray out shrapnel. There is a container section just behind the tip of the warhead that blows the shrapnel. It is possible that is why a warhead tip was found.
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