ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Ukrainian passenger flight that crashed soon after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, was brought down by an Iranian missile, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late on Thursday. Iran has denied that the plane was shot down. It is conducting an investigation in coordination with the plane manufacturer and Ukraine, and has urged people to wait for the results before jumping to conclusions.
“We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional,” Trudeau said in a news conference in Ottawa.
Of the 176 victims, 63 were Canadian citizens and 138 of the passengers were headed to Canada. The victims include entire families, newlyweds, and many students and academics at Canadian institutions. “The news will undoubtedly come as a further shock to the families who are already grieving in the face of this unspeakable tragedy,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau’s comments come as video has emerged that appears to show the moment the plane was hit by a missile.
The plane crashed and exploded just hours after Iran fired 22 missiles, according to Iraqi figures, at bases housing US-led coalition forces in Iraq in retaliation for the US killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani. No casualties have been reported among Iraqi or international forces.
The head of Iran's civil aviation authority denied that the plane was hit by a missile. "Videos showing the Ukrainian plane being hit by a missile cannot be confirmed," Ali Abedzadeh said in a press conference in Tehran on Friday. He invited Canada and the United States to back up their claims with evidence.
Iran's government spokesperson had earlier dubbed the missile reports a "lie."
"This is a lie and nobody will claim responsibility of the big lie,” Iranian government spokesperson Ali Rabiei said in a statement on Thursday, referring to assertions from anonymous Pentagon officials that the aircraft had been struck by two missiles. He urged people not to add to the suffering of grieving families and friends of the crash victims.
US President Donald Trump, speaking at the White House on Thursday, said he suspected the downing of the plane was a “mistake on the other side.”
Initial reports were that a technical fault was the cause of the crash.
Iran has formed an investigatory committee that includes officials from Ukraine and Boeing. “We also welcome presence of the relevant states whose nationals were killed in the bitter incident [to take part] in the process of investigation,” said Rabiei.
Ottawa does not have a diplomatic mission in Tehran. The former government cut ties with Iran in 2012. Trudeau promised to re-open them in 2015, but that has not happened yet. Canada’s Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne however called his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad-Zarif, saying Canada wants to send a team to Iran to aid in the investigation and provide consular services.
“I did stress that Canadians and Canada has a legitimate need and concern with respect to the investigation, that we wanted to bring Canada’s expertise and Canada’s commitment to be an active participant in the investigation,” he told reporters in Montreal on Thursday. The response from Javad-Zarif was “open, was encouraging,” he added.
Updated at 11:29 am
