IRAN has used bulldozers to clear debris from the plane crash site while slamming the “big lie” that they shot it down.

The Ukrainian passenger jet came down hours after Tehran launched a barrage of rockets against US targets in Iraq – leading to fears jittery air defence troops targeted it by mistake.

19 A bulldozer can clearly be seen driving through the crash site near Tehran Credit: AP:Associated Press

19 The use of heavy machinery has sparked fears precious clues could be lost Credit: Alamy Live News

19 A bulldozer lifts a piece of wreckage just hours after the jet came down Credit: The Mega Agency

19 Another bulldozer removes debris from the 'crime scene' crash site Credit: Alamy Live News

And after Western governments accused Iran of shooting it down – something the country denies – there are now fears of a cover-up.

Iranian authorities have so far refused to release the black box flight recorders, saying they will “handle” the data themselves.

And bulldozers have now been pictured clearing away debris at the crash site.

It is feared the machines could destroy precious clues as to what really happened before international crash investigators have a chance to examine them.

Iran’s ambassador to the UK today dismissed the use of bulldozers to clear the crash site as "absolutely absurd", Sky News reports.

What we know so far:

Ukraine Interational Airlines Flight 752 crashed at 6.14am just after leaving Tehran bound for Kiev

It came down three hours after Iran launched missiles at US bases in Iraq

Pictures of the wreckage showed telltale shrapnel marks indicating an explosion

Iran blamed an engine malfunction but refused to hand over black box flight recorders

Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson said intelligence points to an Iranian surface-to-air missile

But the images have been verified by UK investigative website Bellingcat, whose painstaking work linked downed MH17 to Russia back in 2014.

Bellingcat investigator Giancarlo Fiorella told Channel 4 News: “Those images (of the bulldozer) we were able to geolocate to the crash site.

“I found them to be really distressing because this is potentially the scene of a crime.

“If this was a shoot-down event, you don’t want to disturb the crash site before a thorough investigation can be conducted and I’m not sure one had been conducted.”

It follows Iranian claims the two black boxes – which contain data and cockpit communications from the plane and are meant to be indestructible – had been damaged.

Iranian aviation authorities claim parts of their memory had been lost.

19 Crash site workers pile debris into the arm of a bulldozer Credit: Rex Features

19 The use of bulldozers at the crash site so early on has been called 'distressing' Credit: Rex Features

19 The black box flight recorders have been recovered from the wreckage Credit: AFP or licensors

19 Iran has refused to release the plane's black boxes Credit: Reuters

Iranian state television shows footage purportedly of the two black boxes recovered from the crashed Ukrainian Boeing 737

19 Footage shows what appears to be missile streaking across the night sky

19 The doomed aircraft then explodes in a fireball

19 Rows of body bags after the plane crashed near Tehran killing all 176 people on board Credit: AP:Associated Press

Satellite data detected two surface-to-air missiles being launched just minutes after the Boeing 737 took off, the US government says.

And new video shows at least one of the rockets streaking across the night sky in Tehran – before the jet explodes in a fireball killing all 176 people on board.

Analysis of the footage shows the explosion took place near the last known position of the Ukraine International Airlines plane over Parand, southwest of Tehran, at 6.14am on Tuesday.

It shows a bright object moving through the sky before apparently colliding with another object mid-air, causing an explosion.

A brighter streak is seen moving in a different direction - believed to be the flaming wreck of the plane after impact.

An earlier video taken from the security camera on a house shows a huge explosion on the ground and debris flying past the camera.

After US spies told him the plane was shot down, Donald Trump said tonight: "Somebody could have made a mistake".

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and Britain's Boris Johnson also said the intelligence points to Iranian surface-to-air rockets.

But Iran continued to deny it shot the plane down.

19 This unverified image claims to show debris from a rocket found near the crash site Credit: Twitter

19 Canada PM Justin Trudeau places a candle at a vigil for the crash victims Credit: Getty Images - Getty

19 A woman sobs at the vigil for those killed, which included 63 Canadians Credit: AP:Associated Press

19 The moment the plane hit the ground was captured on CCTV

19 Flames from burning debris outside the home where the footage was taken

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on state TV: "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."

He added: "No one will assume responsibility for such a big lie once it is known that the claim had been fraudulent."

Unverified pictures earlier shared on social media claim to show parts of an anti-aircraft missile allegedly found near the crash site in Parand.

Ashkan Monfared tweeted the image, which he said was taken “by an amateur who had no knowledge of the significance of the story and did not know what he had found”.

It is similar to the nose cone of a Russian-made Tor surface-to-air missile.

Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades.

Others claiming to live nearby said they heard loud noises coming from Parandak army base at around the time of the disaster.

19 Another photo appears to show the same piece of debris from a missile

19 The debris has been compared to the nose of a Tor surface-to-air missile (file image)

19

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One wrote of Twitter: “I am a resident of Parand and two to three minutes before the plane crashed two very loud noises were heard from Parandak's garrison.”

Ukrainian investigators now want to search for the alleged missile debris, Oleksiy Danylov, the secretary of the national security council, said today.

He said: "A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories)."