Iran responds to Trudeau, asks for Canadian intelligence report

After the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau cited multiple reports and claimed that an Iranian missile hit the Ukranian plane that crashed on January 8, Tehran has now asked Canada to share their intelligence on the matter. As per reports, Iran has also invited Boeing to take part in the Ukranian plane crash inquiry.  

This comes as a Ukrainian aircraft with at least 176 people aboard crashed on Wednesday right after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport. Iran around the same time had fired a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq that housed US troops. 

Canadian PM’s claims missile crash 

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, on Friday, addressed the media and cited reports from various intelligence agencies to state that the Ukrainian passenger plane was brought down by an Iranian missile. He added that “this may well have been unintentional”. Iran, just before Trudeau’s statement, had clarified that the reports claiming missile attack on the Ukrainian passenger plane are nothing but, “illogical rumours.”

Read: Bodies being recovered at site of Iran plane crash 

63 Canadian citizens killed in the crash  

Out of the 176 people who were killed on board, 63 were Canadian citizens expecting to fly on to Toronto from Kyiv. Media reports quote US intelligence sources, who claimed that the Ukranian aircraft could have been mistaken for a US warplane by the Iranians. US intelligence also stated that a satellite detected infrared "blips" of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion. 

Read: Iran quashes claims of missile hitting Ukrainian plane, flags it off as illogical rumours 

US officials on the plane crash  

US President Donald Trump, in a statement, blamed Iran for striking down the Ukranian aircraft. However, as per reports, the US officials have denied naming the intelligence agency that they have been citing. The Iranian intelligence report, on the other hand, cited technical malfunction in the Ukranian aircraft as the reason for the crash.  

Read: Iran officials reveal the Ukrainian plane had turned back after detecting the problem  

Ukraine, out of all the intelligence agencies investigating the matter claimed that there were several working theories regarding the crash and there is no surety whether the Iranian missile hit the aircraft.   

(Image Source: AP)

Read: Iranian missiles could have shot down Ukraine flight by mistake, report US sources