Reports Mixed on Cause of Crash

Reports have been mixed these last few days over what brought down a Ukrainian airliner just moments after take-off from an airport right outside Tehran. Initially, the Iranian government said the plane had technical issues. From Newsweek: “The incident was first reported by Iranian semi-official media outlets, which cited the country’s Red Crescent Society as assessing that the initial cause appeared to be mechanical failure. The Ukrainian embassy in Tehran shared this view in a statement, but later retracted it, with Kyiv warning not to draw conclusions from preliminary assessments.”

Soon after, pictures of the crash site began to show up on the internet, and images of a “control segment” of a TOR M1 missile were among them. Also from Newsweek: “The aircraft is believed to have been struck by a Russia-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system, known to NATO as Gauntlet, the three officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told Newsweek.”

Oddly enough, Iran has refused to turn over the “black box” used to collect all data emanating from the plane to planemaker Boeing. According to Reuters, it is not known at this time which country Iran will turn the box over to. Heshmat Alavi, a journalist covering the Middle East, posted pictures on a thread, claiming there is shrapnel damage on the plane’s wreckage. Surface to air missiles, he explains, explode near their target to spray it with shrapnel, which gives it maximum impact capabilities. You can find that thread here.

Reuters is now reporting that Ukrainian officials want to examine the crash site for evidence of missiles. This development occured as a result of seeing images like the ones Heshmat Alavi posted. From Reuters: “Ukraine is looking at various possible causes of the crash of an Ukrainian airliner, including a possible missile attack, a collision, an engine explosion or terrorism, he wrote in a Facebook post.”

Canada Demands Access

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne spoke with his Iranian counterpart, stressing the fact that Canada needs quick access to Iran in order to provide any services needed to Canadians in Iran, and to participate in the investigation of the crash site. From Newsweek: “Asked whether the Canadian government is considering or leading with the possibility that an anti-aircraft missile took down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, Global Affairs spokesperson Krystyna Dodds said her office would have to get back to Newsweek on the matter.” The Foreign Minister stated “Canada and Canadians have many questions which will need to be answered.”

The Pentagon released a statement that the Ukrainian airliner was shot down by mistake, as it happened just minutes after Iran released missiles aimed at American assets in Iraq. That incident is said to have been a controlled event in which Iran intended to miss it’s targets. It is said they did this as a face saving measure. President Trump took it as such, claiming Iran is “standing down” after the killing of Qassim Soleimani, a Revolutionary Guards General responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including over 600 American soldiers.