Ukraine plane crash: missile hit or technical cause?

New York Times has published a video that suggests a possible Iranian missile exploded near a plane above Parand area. The plane did not explode right away – it flew back towards Tehran airport; however, it exploded before reaching the airport.

Ukraine plane Boeing 737 which had 167 passengers and 9 crew members on board, crashed after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport. The crash took place hours after Iran fired missiles on US bases in Iraq.

A number of Iranian media reports indicate that the crash was because of some technical errors. “The plane did not signal any emergency situation”, media quotes officials. However, in addition to the possibility of missile downing, there are other possible causes of the crash of the plane too.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the priority is to find the truth and the responsible elements that caused the tragedy. Also, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine National Security and Defense wrote on his Facebook that the investigators are going to dig around four possible factors of the plane crash: missile strike, mid-air collision with a drone, engine failure, and terrorist act.

Truth finding inquiries have been in progress. Ukraine has also deployed a group of investigators to Tehran. However, there isn’t any clear evidence whether there is a connection between the two cases – US-Iran heightened tensions and the plane crash.