Tehran challenges suggestion Iran missile downed Ukraine jet

TEHRAN - Iran, alluding to "doubtful scenarios", on Thursday (Jan 9) challenged international suggestions that the Ukrainian airliner that crashed outside Tehran this week was mistakenly downed by an Iranian missile.

The Iranian government, in a statement, urged Canada to share its information after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said "multiple" intelligence sources indicate that Iran shot down the Boeing airliner after it took off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 on board, including 63 Canadians.

Iran's foreign ministry also invited the US planemaker Boeing to "participate" in its enquiry into the crash.

"All these reports are a psychological warfare against Iran ... all those countries whose citizens were aboard the plane can send representatives and we urge Boeing to send its representative to join the process of investigating the black box," government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a statement.

"SUCH RUMOURS MAKE NO SENSE"

A senior Iranian official also ruled out the missile strike allegation, saying it made "no sense".

"Several internal and international flights were flying at the same time in Iranian airspace at the same altitude of 8,000 feet (2,440m)," Iran's transport ministry said.

"This story of a missile striking a plane cannot be correct at all," it said in a statement.

"Such rumours make no sense," Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's civil aviation organisation and deputy transport minister, said in the statement.

An initial report issued by Iran's civil aviation organisation on Thursday said the 3-year-old airliner, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday, encountered a technical problem shortly after takeoff and started to head toward a nearby airport before it crashed.

Canada's theory was swiftly backed up by other Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who said mounting evidence supported an Iranian missile strike, which "may well have been unintentional".

US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington officials believe the Kiev-bound Boeing 737 was struck by one or more Iranian missiles before it ditched and exploded outside Tehran.

Flight PS752 went down just minutes after takeoff from Tehran airport in the dark early Wednesday, after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at American military targets in Iraq in retaliation for the Jan 3 US drone strike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian general.

Tehran said it was prepared to allow experts from the countries who lost people in the crash to help with the enquiry.

The ill-fated plane was carrying 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, 3 Germans and 3 Britons, as well as the 63 Canadians.