Ukrainian Plane Shot Down by Iranian Air Defenses That Fired Russian Tor Missile, CBS News, Newsweek, CNN Sources Say
American intelligence recorded the activation of an Iranian radar and two missile launch flashes.
The Boeing 737 of Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed on Wednesday, January 8, 20 km from the Iranian capital, Tehran, may have been shot down by Iranian air defense systems, reports US broadcaster CBS News, citing sources among US officials.
According to the sources, the American side recorded the activation of an Iranian radar and two missile launch flashes shortly before the flash from the Ukrainian airliner.
The plane crash due to an Iranian missile is also reported by the US publication Newsweek, citing three sources: at the Pentagon, in US intelligence and in Iraqi intelligence.
The plane, the publication writes, was shot down by the Russian-made Tor-M1 air defense missile system, known to NATO as Gauntlet. According to a source at the Pentagon and another senior US intelligence official, the incident is considered accidental.
Sources say Iran's air defenses were likely active after the missile strike in response to the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force special 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 US military bases.
US Central Command declined to comment on the sources' information reported by the publication. The US National Security Council and the State Department did not respond to journalists.
CNN also confirms this information, citing sources for its Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. According to her, US Pentagon officials believe Iran mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian plane, thinking it was under attack.
As CNN reports, representatives of the British news agency PA are also receiving “alarming information” about the Ukrainian Boeing shot down in Iran. “I am not going to speculate, but we are receiving very alarming information and are studying it closely,” a PA representative said.
At the same time, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Authority Ali Abedzadeh doubts that Iran could have shot down the Ukrainian airliner with a missile, since after takeoff, he said, the plane continued flying for another five minutes while the pilot unsuccessfully tried to return to the airport.
“If a missile or shell hits the plane, it will go into free fall,” Abedzadeh said.
After the air crash, images of fragments of a Tor-M1 missile began spreading 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. Among the others: collision with an unmanned aerial vehicle, engine fire and a terrorist attack.
Earlier, the outlet Tsenzor.NET, citing sources in the Ukrainian state commission investigating the crash, reported that the version of an engine malfunction or explosion has not yet been confirmed.
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