Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday evidence indicates an Iranian missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late Tuesday and that the strike “may have been unintentional.”
Trudeau says Canadian and allied intelligence supports that. He declined to get into the specific intelligence, but said it appeared it was a surface-to-air missile that struck the plane.
“The intelligence evidence suggests very clearly a possible and probable cause for the crash,” Trudeau told a news conference.
Earlier: – Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 was hit by fire from a Russian-built Tor M-1 surface-to-air missile system, two Pentagon officials and an Iraqi intelligence official told Newsweek.
According to Newsweek, the Boeing 737–800 en route from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airpot to Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport, 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 authorised to speak publicly on the matter, told Newsweek.
One Pentagon and one U.S senior intelligence official told Newsweek that the Pentagon’s assessment is that the incident was accidental. Iran’s anti-aircraft were likely active following the country’s missile attack, which came in response to the U.S. killing last week of Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, sources said.
U.S. Central Command declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Newsweek. No reply was returned from the National Security Council or State Department.
Via Newsweek
