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.
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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.
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