Ukraine has concluded that either a missile or terrorist act is responsible for the crash of one of its jetliners in Iran.
The Security Service of Ukraine said in a statement posted on its website Friday that its chief, Ivan Bakanov, had convened a meeting of a special working group on Wednesday’s crash of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
“The SBU is considering two priority versions of the reasons that led to the plane crash,” the service said in the statement. “The first -- a missile hit -- the second, a terrorist attack.”
The three-year-old Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 aboard. The security agency said it would carefully analyze the evidence before drawing a final conclusion based on “objective, verified information.”
The leaders of Canada, the U.K. and Australia have all said the evidence points in the direction of a a missile launched from Iran, possibly in error.
“We do believe that it’s likely that that plane was shot down by an Iranian missile,” U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Friday in a briefing. “We are going to let the inquiry play out before we make a final determination.”
Earlier Friday, Iran denied that it had fired a missile at the plane and accused western governments of “psychological warfare.”
“If they are certain and have the courage, they should share any finding that has scientific and technical backing,” Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, said in a televised briefing Friday.
Citing a source it didn’t name, Fars says the cause of crash will be announced on Saturday after a meeting between Iranian and foreign officials where they will review the initial crash report.
Abedzadeh’s comments intensify a standoff over the crash that occurred hours after Iran struck U.S. bases in Iraq in response to the killing of a top Iranian general last week. People familiar with the intelligence, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said two surface-to-air missile launches were detected soon after the Ukrainian jet took off, followed by an explosion.
Investigations into civil air disasters typically involve cooperation among manufacturers, regulators, the airline and the country where the crash happened. The U.S., Canada and France have now agreed to join the probe, after Ukraine sent experts to the scene, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy received “important data” in a meeting with U.S. representatives, Vadym Prystaiko, the country’s foreign minister, said on Twitter, without disclosing details.
“Ukraine is not throwing away any explanations. We want to set up an international coalition that will investigate,” Prystaiko said.
Ukraine’s experts got access to the black boxes, bodies and the plane debris, though some parts were still missing, Prystaiko told journalists in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. He added there is no reason to say that Iran authorities aren’t cooperating with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s state security service said it considers two priority explanations for the crash: a missile or a terrorist act. The country asked Canada, the U.S, Australia and the U.K. to share information they have.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. would issue waivers from the economic sanctions against Iran to let investigators participate in the probe.
“The Treasury will issue waivers for anybody, whether it’s Americans or others, that can help facilitate the investigation,” Mnuchin said at a White House news conference Friday.
Iran indicated it won’t seek American assistance with decoding the 737-800’s black boxes and will turn to Russia, Ukraine, France or Canada if it needs aid extracting data. Raising concern that the investigation might be compromised, a CBS News crew found the impact site unguarded and unsecured, with virtually all pieces of the plane cleared away and scavengers picking through the remaining debris.
Iranian bulldozers clear plane crash site before Ukrainian investigators arrive
Iran has used bulldozers to clear away debris at the site of Ukrainian airliner crash, potentially destroying evidence as Tehran continues to deny Western allegations that one of its own missiles downed the jet, killing all 176 people on board.
Photos from the site show at least one bulldozer clearing away wreckage and Giancarlo Fiorella of Bellingcat, a journalism website that focuses on fact-finding, said the group had verified pictures of other bulldozers at work at the scene, calling it “distressing.”
“It’s distressing, this is a potential crime scene, if this was a shoot down you don’t want to disturb the crash site before a thorough investigation has taken place,” he told the UK’s Channel 4 news. “The presence of heavy machinery, the bulldozing of the wreckage is very distressing.”
The Daily Mail also published several more pictures of bulldozers at work at the scene and said the site was now vulnerable to scavengers.
Western leaders said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally hit by a surface-to-air missile just hours after Iran launched around a dozen ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq to avenge the killing of its top general in an American airstrike last week.Quoting @ConflictsW:
"Satellite imagery of the Ukrainian Airways crash site. The site appears to be being cleared by Iranian authorities using bulldozers. Lots of areas have been cleared of debris."Me:
Why is Iran razing/tampering the evidence? What are they hiding?#PS752 pic.twitter.com/AC8i9FFAEM
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