In a shocking twist, US officials now believe that Iran shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight 757 near Tehran, on the day that the country launched a series of missile strikes on US bases in Iraq.
Pentagon and senior intelligence officials speaking to Newsweek said that the plane was likely shot down by a Russian Tor M1 'Gauntlet' surface-to-air missile. They added that this was likely accidental, as Iran's anti-air defences would have been active following their own missile strikes against the US bases.
The revelation comes as US President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday he had his suspicions about the downing of the jet, saying, "It was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood and someone could have made a mistake."
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An IHS Markit assessment also said that UIA Flight 752 “is likely to have been shot down mistakenly by an IRGC-operated SA-15 missile.”
The report says that “photographs purportedly taken near the site of the crash and circulated on social media appear to show the guidance section of a SA-15 Gauntlet short-range SAM which landed in a nearby garden.”
The report added that IHS Markit could not confirm the authenticity of the images, but assesses them to be credible.
All 176 passengers of the Boeing 737-800 were killed in the crash.
