Dutch military intelligence sources indicate that the Ukrainian Boeing 737 which crashed shortly after take-off from Teheran on Wednesday was shot down, Dutch ministers have said.

Both defence minister Ank Bijleveld and foreign minister Stef Blok told reporters in The Hague that the MIVD has its own information showing it is ‘very likely’ the aircraft was shot down by an air missile.

‘It is now important that there is a thorough investigation,’ Blok said.

On Thursday Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau said that information from various security services showed that the plane was shot down by Iran, with the loss of all 176 passengers and crew.

Blok said there is contact between Dutch and Canadian specialists about what needs to be done now. ‘Canada can count on us,’ he said. The Netherlands has considerable experience in investigating air disasters involving missiles in the wake of the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.

Blok also said he hoped that European ministers, meeting today in Brussels, would decide that the EU should mediate in the conflict between the US and Iran following the US drone strike on a leading Iranian general.