Aref Fathi/picture alliance via Getty Images

Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority head, Ali Abedzadeh, told CNN the country may need outside help to decode the black box on the Ukrainian airliner because it is damaged.

"Generally speaking, Iran has the potential and know-how to decode the black box. Everybody knows that," he said.

However, Abedzadeh said, “the black box of this very Ukrainian Boeing 737 is damaged. Ukrainian Aviation experts arrived here in Tehran today. We had a session with them. From tomorrow they will start decoding the data.”

He added: “If the available equipment is not enough to get the content,” Iran will outsource the boxes to “the experts from France or Canada.”

“Then whatever is the result will be published and publicized to the world," Abedzadeh said.

More on this: CNN’s aviation expert Richard Quest said the important point here is Iran will need the help of very experienced people to download the data if the boxes are damaged.

Quest said it is unlikely the boxes would be opened if damaged. If damaged, they would only be opened under the most exacting circumstances. Quest said data cannot be read until the boxes are opened, the data is downloaded and then analyzed. French or Canadian aviation officials would have the needed experience and equipment to do this.