Pentagon officials believe the Iranian regime shot down Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS 752 with a Russian anti-aircraft missile Tuesday night. All 176 innocent civilians and the crew were killed. The victims were from Canada, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Iran. There were no Americans onboard.
"Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, a Boeing 737–800 en route from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airpot to Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport, stopped transmitting data Tuesday just minutes after takeoff and not long after Iran launched missiles at military bases housing U.S. and allied forces in neighboring Iraq. 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," Newsweek reports.
BREAKING: U.S. officials have shared intelligence with Canada to back up the view that Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 152 was brought down by an Iranian missile, sources tell CBC News.
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) January 9, 2020
The plane, which was flying away from Tehran, was shot down hours after Iran launched more than a dozen missiles from inside the country toward Al Asad airbase in Iraq. This was done in retaliation for the killing of Iranian terrorist leader Qassem Soleimani. Nobody was harmed and there were no casualties from the attack.
Senior US official tells me that it was a Russian SA15 missile that brought down the Ukrainian civilian airliner. "An absolute tragedy," the official told Fox News. "They just screwed up and it is tragic."
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) January 9, 2020
For now officials are saying the shoot down was a mistake, but it was just a few days ago Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened commercial aircraft travel. He did so by reminding President Trump of an accidental plane shoot down by the U.S. in 1988. Since then aircraft and radar technology has vastly improved to avoid attacks on commercial flights. Iran is refusing to turn over the black box to Boeing for evaluation.
Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 6, 2020
Never threaten the Iranian nation.
President Trump was asked about the recent developments during a press conference at the White House this morning.
.@CBSNews broke this news while the President was holding an event. Trump was asked what he thought happened to the plane:
— Sara Cook (@saraecook) January 9, 2020
"I have my suspicions...It's a tragic thing when I see that. It's a tragic thing. But somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."
This post has been updated with additional information.