Iran says it will not hand the flight data recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines airliner back to plane-maker Boeing or the United States.

Speaking to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority, Ali Abedzadeh said the black boxes would be analyzed in the country where the accident took place, in accordance with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) rules.

Ukrainian investigators would be a part of the process, he added.

But Abedzadeh did rule out involving the US in any stage of the investigation. "We will not give the black box to the manufacturer [Boeing] or America,” he said.

Without speaking at length about the accident, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority revealed that the pilot did not communicate any problems to the air traffic control, but said it was still too early to tell what had caused the crash.

"The cause of the accident will not be discovered or announced until the black box is analyzed," he added.