Canadian PM Trudeau cites multiple reports claiming Iran downed Ukrainian plane

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, on Friday, addressed the media and cited reports from various intelligence agencies to state that the crashed Ukrainian passenger plane was in fact brought down by an Iranian missile. He added that “this may well have been unintentional”. Iran, on the other hand, quashed all the theories and claims of this possibility terming it as an “illogical rumour”. 

63 Canadian citizens killed in the crash 

Out of the 176 people who were killed on board, 63 were Canadian citizens and they were 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, blamed the technical malfunction in the Ukranian aircraft as a 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.  

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

Iran Quashes Claims Of Missile Hitting Ukrainian Plane

Iran on Thursday denied the “illogical rumours” claiming that Ukrainian airliner that crashed near Tehran on was hit by a missile. Local media reports quoted the head of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation, Ali Abedzadeh saying that it is scientifically impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane. He shrugged off the claims by terming that as rumours. 

(Image Source: AP)

Read: Bodies being recovered at site of Iran plane crash