“Possibly someone made a mistake”: Trump hints that Ukraine International Airlines Boeing may have been shot down by Iran

US President Donald Trump suspects that Iran is to blame for the first crash in the history of Ukraine International Airlines.

During a press conference on environmental protection, Trump was asked about the crash of a Boeing 737 of Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed 20 km from Tehran on Wednesday, January 8.

The American president suspects that the crash was not caused by a mechanical fault on board. “Someone may have made a mistake on that side, — said Trump. — I have my suspicions.”

“This is a tragic incident. It is not our system, we have absolutely nothing to do with it. The plane was flying over a fairly dangerous area. They say there was a technical malfunction. Personally, I don't believe that at all. At some point, information from the black boxes will be released. Ideally, they would be handed over to Boeing, but if they are handed over to France or another country, — that will also be fine.”

CBS News and Newsweek, citing their own sources among US officials, earlier reported that the Boeing was shot down by Iran's air defense using the Russian-made Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system.

Sources say Iran's air defense was likely active after firing missiles in response to the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the special Quds Force unit (Al-Quds) within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The general was killed on January 3 in a US airstrike, along with several senior Iraqi officials. In response, Iran fired missiles at several American military bases.

At the same time, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization Ali Abedzadeh doubts that Iran could have shot down the Ukrainian airliner with a missile, since the plane continued flying for another five minutes after takeoff, and the pilot unsuccessfully tried to return to the airport.

“If a missile or projectile hits the plane, it will be in free fall,” Abedzadeh said. 

After the air crash, images of fragments of the Tor-M1 missile began to spread online. Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov named a missile strike on the plane as one of the 4 main versions of the crash. Others include a collision with an unmanned aerial vehicle, an engine fire and a terrorist attack.

Earlier, the outlet Censor.NET, citing sources in the Ukrainian state commission investigating the crash, wrote that the version of a malfunction or explosion of the plane's engines has not yet been confirmed.